Bookstore barometer

The quality (or mere presence) of a used bookstore tells you a lot about the town in which it is located. On the whole I have found there to be an inverse relationship between the cultural eminence of a given locale and the quality of its used bookstores.  It came as no surprise, therefore, to find a fantastic example of the type in a strip mall in Redding, CA.

But what makes a "quality" used bookstore?  For starters, it sells used books, not new ones.  The famed but ultimately disappointing Powell's in Portland fails for this reason (fine online resource though).  Second, it categorizes its offerings not according to Dewey or the LCC, but as suits its current holdings.  This often produces insights undreamed of by Melvil Dewey and his ilk--see, for example, the photo above--making browsing an education in itself.  Third, you leave with at least a few books you hadn't known about before entering (from Redding:  a Pulitzer-winning history of the King years; Richard Rhodes writing about the American farm; Tom Clancy on the aircraft carrier; and a volume the New York Times claims "takes its place among the great Antarctic adventure stories," a boast I simply must test).  Last, but not least, it has that smell.  No describing it, but you know it when you encounter it.

There is nothing I like better than a good used bookstore.  Now what am I to make of the fact that Fairfax has no bookstore at all?