Book shops that keep the cellophane wrapping on the books...

[HappyPeach]

Aibu? How can you possibly know if you'd like the book if you can't open the bloody thing up? I was in Waterstones this afternoon, looking at art books. But many of them had the cellophane on and the staff wouldn't remove it. For some of these books it's hard to find reviews online & see what they're actually like. How can we be expected to support real-life bookshops if we can't properly examine the merchandise?

There's usually a display one unwrapped isn't there

My dad had a newsagents/bookshop some years ago.

He had to write off many books that had damaged spines.
He'd also had a regular who would read a bit of a book, bend the corner of a page and come back to carry on reading it! Despite telling him off, the man continued to chance it!

Art books are expensive and also the books that people are most likely to browse without buying, so a huge amount of pricey stock gets written off when they don’t wrap them.

Not where I was today

I used to know someone who held a senior position in BBC publishing. If she went into shops where this was happening she would demand they remove the cellophane and make a display book for people to look at. They always did.

Oh how I miss our shopping trips 😁

I'm surprised there are any bookshops open with the lower cost of ebooks and on line paper books with the added cost of ruined books that people have thumbed through which other people won't buy. Od be careful what you wish for.

Paperbacks are unwrapped and I can understand why they won't want to spoil a £30 hardback.