Well, not quite, but the next best thing.
Below “add to shopping cart”, the menu adds: Available for in-store pickup now from: $49.99. Price may vary based on availability. Enter your zip code:
Best of both worlds. Find it on Amazon, buy at the closest Borders. Wonderful for a quick fix of the book you’ve been coveting.
I’ve used the store inventory database at Borders before, but the interface is godawful — it takes five clicks, two forms, and a lot of jumping around to get to the inventory search.
I’ve implored Bookpeople, the best local bookstore, to put their database online for years. I’d buy more from them if they did.
database listings for used and out of print books are an amazing shifter of value. i was into alibris early on; a story i did for forbes when i wrote a column for them cited the sexy example of a manual for a 1957 t bird. on a shelf it has zero value. to a guy whose wife is tired of same being up on blocks in the garage it has an almost incalculable value. convenience stores have done this well in japan, where people go to the store so often because of limited home shelf space.
Database listing of used books stores, ala alibris network of used book stores, change the value amazingly. take the value of a manual for a 1957 t bird on a shelf in ohio and the same book’s value to a guy who’s wife is tired of same being up on blocks in the garage. japanese convenience stores have done a good job of the virtual physical because of limited home shelf space and the habit of … uh we’re not supposed to call them consumers…. of going to the shops a lot.