Ever been in a bookstore, browsing through the computer’s directory and notice they don’t have a single copy of the book you’re looking for? Maybe not even a single copy from the entire series? Believe it or not this has happened to me more times than I can count on both hands; on books generally considered mainstream and not at all rare or limited.

More and more it seems like book stores are using their online inventory as a backup for in store stock. Big chains like Chapters and Indigo here in Quebec do not hesitate to encourage their employees to push online orders. After asking if they have Book X in stock, an all too familiar reply is “No we don’t have that right now… but you can order it online.” They say this to me as if it is news, as if I didn’t know there was a magical online bookstore with infinite amounts of everything.

The fact is, I like going into the store and flipping through a book before I buy it. Now it seems whenever I get inspired to finally go out to buy a book, the stores are eternally out of stock until I either give up and order online or something distracts me and I neglect the purchase altogether.

Do retailers limit their inventories because everything is so readily online? If I were to venture a guess it would be that they do, indeed. However I don’t think it is part of some malicious scheme to get patrons out of stores and on the web, I think it is simply a matter of being stingy on inventory (which many retailers without online stores can be guilty of, too). I just find it irritating that every time I want to flip through a new book or check out a series, I instead end up having to be spammed with online reviews and a section of books recommended “especially for me!”

I know I can’t expect bookstores to have each and every book that every individual wants, however it would be nice to not have to rely on ordering half my books online and playing the waiting game that follows.