How often do you come across a bookstore which keep all their books nicely wrapped?
You do not even have the chance of browsing through the book to see whether it's worth buying or not.
Popular bookstore in Penang area always have their books wrapped up nicely. As for Borders, they do not wrap their books and everyone is free to browse through it (except for the manga which is considered as collectable items).
So, have your say, do u think all the books should be wrapped up nicely so the public will not damage the books by browsing through it??
Or they should let everyone read it before buying ??

Well. In popular. You can always request for them to remove the plastic cover for you to browse through the book. It's a tad disturbing, but it's how they usually take care of the books.

Meanwhile the books in Borders, esp the ones in Queensbay, gosh. After much handling from the public, at times I don't even wana buy the books. It's in bad shape and some has creases on the spine and even dog ears.

Sigh. Wouldn't want my new book to be in that condition.

Well, I can see borders doing some changes. They wrapped most of the books, leaving a few (2-3 books) unwrapped for the public to browse through. Guess that's good. =)

It depends on the shop's business line, and some may just plain depended on how they view of Malaysians reader as a whole.

By business line, Borders is pretty smart.
They know that not alot of people will read non-cartoony books, and that those who do read non-cartoony books would have been mature enough to handle a book, thus those books will not be wrapped.

Comics and mangas will definitely be wrapped because kids just don't know how to handle them yet. Teenagers and adults may be able to handle those books well, but you also know that among those readers are also kids

Borders, not wrapping their books? In my experience they wrap about 50% of them. Fantasy and Sci-Fi books are usually wrapped, while general fiction is a free-for-all browsing section. Mangas are also wrapped, but Borders provides a 'Browsing Copy' that usually looks like 'kiam chai' (salted vegetable in Hokkien).

I don't really care if the book I buy is unwrapped and has been flipped through. As long as its not in tatters with pages falling out, its fine by me. Of course, if there is a wrapped copy and an unwrapped one, I'll pick the wrapped one!

I did see something that really irked me tho. I was at Kinokuniya, and there were these two guys just ripping up the wrapping to read the books, even though there were plenty of signs that read 'Please ask for assistance to unwrap.' Very uncivic-minded.

they should allow people to read it and have workers stationed if a person reads too long! I always want buy doraemon, but afraid that i will buy back the same volume

Agree with firedauz , thats business line.
Can't say much about that.

If its wrapped , I'll read the synopsis and if its not , perhaps will read a few chapters.

I think that stationed personnel idea might not work in Malaysia

It may work in the US or Japan where readers will be shy abit and put back the book when they are warn by a book personnel, but in Malaysia?

Most definitely that reader will ask back "apa awak mau??"

That's a smart move....unlike popular, need to call the assistants to unwrap it
sometimes, when buying a book, i need to read through the content to see whether it's up to my liking or not
but when I see all the books being wrapped up like those in popular, i don't feel like going in anymore since i would not like to trouble the assistants that i want this, that and everything that caught my attention to be unwrapped

for borders, it's very kind of them to provide a copy for browsing through - if i see anything interesting on the cover/title, all i have to do is flip through it...by doing so, I will not feel bad for flipping through all the books

I like border's method where they have one browsing copy. They should have one then keep the other books nicely wrapped. I like my books with the 'new book smell'

I prefer Borders method of providing browsing copy too. Have seen too many bad browsing habit (err, saliva-slicked fingers anyone?), I definitely will not buy any unwrapped copy unless if I really, REALLY have no other choice.

saliva slicked fingeR?? ewwww.....

Good examples about this discussion.
They , the owners of the bookshops , have to accept the consequences.
But yea , IMO , most people prefer to read , or to compare some books before they buy one.

last time i was at Border's TS, i saw malay uncle(smart looking) un-wrap about 5+ to read the books and then hide d plastic behind the book shelf

ermm...what kind of books was he looking at?
some not suitable for kids manga??

This post has been edited by evilhomura89: Jan 24 2009, 12:32 AM

Perhaps by wrapping up the books method is not acceptable for some readers and buyers , huh?

This post has been edited by Massa: Jan 26 2009, 04:58 AM

Acceptable or not, you walk into the bookstore, you follow its rules. Its not like you can't unwrap the books, you just have to ask, but obviously the people we saw are more important then your average Joe.

Exactly.
Can't agree more.

Well..what do expect in a bookstore when there are traffic rules and I see many not obeying it even though the consequence of breaking it are much more serious than breaking the rules in bookstore...this is Malaysia for god sake...

This is what I wanted to ask you guys. If let's say you are interested in a particular book but all the wrapped copy has been snapped up by others, will you still go for the unwrapped copy, assuming the copy is not in a very nice condition?



Well, ppl always say 'don't judge a book by it's cover'. Same as don't judge a person by their dressing.

When you want something bad enough, you'll buy a book even if its full of creases and the cover looks like its been through a grinder. Case in point, the last copy of a particular book I wanted which I snapped up regardless of its condition.

if all the book were snapped up, i will go to the counter to ask whether is there any extra copies...usually they'll let me know whether it's available or not and i've tried once in borders and they told me which branch still have it
so i just proceed to the other branch and get a good copy

I'll place an order and wait Do not like my books in bad conditions.

I don't like my book wrapped. But I would not take the book in a bad condition.It's the responsible of a bookstore to manage and care for it book even though it is unwrapped.

It's cheating to sell the bad condition book full price.I always ask for at least half the price if that's the only copy. If they refused to do that, then that's fine I'll just go to another bookstore.

Thats right.
I do the same thing too.
Its like you buy a second hand book though.

i prefer Borders and Kino style with browsing copy. unlike popular where they wrap most of their books, and yeah u can ask for one of their assistants to unwrap the book, but usually its hard to find one that is available, they always look busy and i dont really like bothering ppl like that.

better pick on the wrapped book la.. but if there's only unwrapped book left, have to go with it and buy it cos it's always better than never

i prefer kino style...

coz i'm assure where the books are brand new n virgin.

while borders style is unwrapped books... but there's too many people reading the books till it's no longer brand new and it's looks like 2nd hand / yellowish and torn / bended... it's EXTREMELY bad conditions.

nobody mention POPULAR?
popular pasar seni has browsing copies too, especially for Harry Potter series.
but not much other browsing copies.

however, some fictions are unwrapped so I can juz flip through, read a chapter to see if its interesting~

wat bout unwrap a few and others are wrapped nicely?
therefore ppl browse through those copies onli, browsing copies they are lo!
haha...

Popular books are not tat updated, however bcoz most of them are not wrapped, i prefer to go there.

Well I find Popular lacking in terms of book choices, and well I really prefer wrapped books.

hah..
popular memang not really wide choice of books, especially newest wans..
but i can flip and flip, or sit there, enjoy the air con, read the books!

Seconded. Popular may be good for work books, but is sorely lacking in novels and the likes. I like to call it the 'glorified stationary store'.

Oh... I usually only read the first 10 pages in bookstores, if I like it I'll buy and read at home. There were times when I will try looking for online copies or do some research on the books I wanted to buy before heading to bookstore. Somehow I always feel that it's not nice to just read a book and not buy it

I usually read online reviews, or reviews in magazines and stuff. Then for the book itself, again, I source for it on the Internet. Usually Amazon has the sneak preview thing...

I don't mind the nicely-wrapped books. In fact, many a times, the books wrapped nicely has deterred me from buying the books just because of its nice, embossed cover

you have the right to ask the staff to unwrap the book cover for you. if he doesnt allow it, i'll just purchase the book from another outlet.

I prefer to see bookstores that wrap all their books, but keep one copy unwrapped (whether jacketed or not, not important) so that shoppers can take a look inside. Then when you want to buy, you can buy the wrapped one or the unwrapped one (your choice).

Well, unwrapping books in bookstores is definitely not a crime! It's not the same as copying material from the books or damaging the books. Most people unwrapped the books just want to check if the book is worthy for them to buy or not.

I think bookstores should keep a few copies for browing purpose, and wrap up rest of the copies. That way, everybody is happy, right?!

Second that. Whenever I go to Popular, I'll always end up with a bunch of pens that cost too damned much!

Not often. However, wrapped books are good for collectors. Nowadays you can read the manga online before making the purchase. Just request the cashier to open the wrapper after the purchase. That is customer's right.

That's why bookstores have a dilemma:

When we want to browse, we hope that the books are unwrapped.
When we want to buy, we look for a new, nicely wrapped one.

It's just plain hard to satisfy consumers

And of course when it comes to humans, you get all sorts of behaviour when they're reading books in a bookstore.

Bending the book too much.
Opening the pages too widely.
Licking their fingers to flip pages.
I don't know why or how, but pages could actually go missing as well.

And not to mention when you have books unwrapped, some would just go hog a seat for the whole day!
I mean come on, be reasonable.
The bookstores hate you for doing that you know?
That's why they turn on the air-con so darn cold, hoping you would move your frozen butt elsewhere.

I guess reading books alone doesn't make you conscionable.
Or perhaps they're just too numb from the cold...

what's so hard about bringing the book to the counter to unwrap???

Actually at my local Popular branch, if the customer asks, staff are happy to unwrap the book/magazine in question; assuming there isn't already an unwrapped copy available, since most are unwrapped, it's not an issue except for magazines mostly. They'd rather you ask them to, really; saves headaches and plastic wrappers having to rewrap from scratch.