Companion Books kept its promise. The customer was already at the counter.

The book had already been spoken for

The account begins with a perfectly reasonable request to buy a book that had just come into the shop. Staff would not sell it yet: somebody had asked for that title, and deserved the first offer. It was an easy sale being delayed for a customer who might not even want it any more.

Then staff made the call. The person being offered the book was the same woman standing there trying to buy it. The promise was honoured, the sale could proceed and the customer had effectively succeeded in holding a book for herself. A contributor who witnessed it said the care had stayed with them.

Source: Companion Books appreciation discussion

A shop can be remembered for what it refuses to rush

Other contributors praised the staff and remembered Buddha, the large cat who used to curl up in the window. Accounts described his retirement to a staff member’s home and later death. Those are affectionate memories, not an invitation to meet a shop cat on a visit now.

At 4094 Hastings Street, Companion carries new, used and rare books, with an online inventory and a collection it describes as exceeding 60,000. The scale gives a browser room to wander. The customer story suggests why people also remember the person behind the counter, not simply the quantity behind them.

Source: Companion Books appreciation discussion

Source: Companion Books: shop, inventory and trade policies

The books coming in help shape the next visit

Trades keep a second-hand collection changing, but the process has sensible limits. Bring up to five books without an appointment; arrange a larger quantity first. Damaged books, encyclopedias and magazines are among the exclusions. A box cleared from a home shelf is not automatically a box the shop can sell.

The offer is up to half the shop’s expected retail price in credit, not half the original cover price in cash. Credit cannot be cashed out, and it can cover up to 20 percent of a new-book purchase. It is a system for continuing a reading habit rather than converting every unwanted paperback into money.

Source: Companion Books: shop, inventory and trade policies

Leave some space for the book you did not know you wanted

Use the inventory if a particular title or edition is the reason for going, and check the trade arrangements before carrying in boxes. Those practical limits leave more time for the enjoyable part: looking one shelf beyond the plan. A changing collection cannot guarantee the intended find, but can supply a different one.

And if a book is unavailable because somebody asked for it first, there is a pleasing precedent. The shop may be keeping a promise. With luck, it may even be keeping it to you.

Source: Companion Books: shop, inventory and trade policies

Source: Companion Books appreciation discussion