Article:		Buy Where You Shop
Subject:		I bought my first O'Reilly book at Softpro
Date:		2003-05-31 20:49:07
From:		anonymous2
in Burlington Using C on the UNIX System. Spiral binding... In those days, going to that store was usually how I found out what titles existed on a particular topic. I can pretty much always find what I'm looking for there, and if I'm in a hurry, the staff will point me to exactly where it is on the shelves. I still discover new titles I hadn't known about as I'm browsing. And occasionally my browsing leads me to forego a title that really looked good from it's cover, but just wasn't what I needed when I looked inside. Other times I'll find which author of a Java networking book has addressed a problem very similar to something I need to do. As I look at my bookshelves, I would estimate 85-90% of the books are from Softpro

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• I bought my first O'Reilly book at Softpro
  2003-07-18 13:47:13  anonymous2 [Reply | View]
  
  
  That's the same store where my own O'Reilly books are mostly from too (I have 2 or 3 from a local B&N where I first disovered O'Reilly years ago). A friend showed me SoftPro (the Burlington, MA store) last year, I joined the "Team O'Reilly" program there, and I've bought enough books to already have several free ones from that program. All the books were discounted 20% off the top, and the employees there (sometimes the store owner is there too) are really knowledgeable about what they stock. Although I haven't been able to attend one yet, the store also hosts live talks by many of the authors whose books they carry.
  
  I would never get this kind of service and enjoyable shopping experience online, and I don't think I've paid much more for my books there than Amazon was selling them for. Mostly, I love knowing I'm supporting an "indie" business which cares about its offerings and its customers.
  
  I realize not everyone is fortunate to have a store like this close by, but I agree, if you can get in there to browse, and they have what you need, keep them in business and make the purchase there too.