Good Books, Good Coffee, Good Friends – Local Steamboat’s bookstore tag line.

Off the Beaten Path Bookstore in Steamboat Springs
Off the Beaten Path Bookstore in Steamboat Springs

I can only imagine that working at a brick and mortar books store these days must be rough. Off the Beaten Path is my local store.  But with Amazon.com, eBooks, dot-coms, Costco, all these places makes it sure easy to buy books and even get recommendations. But it’s not the same.

Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, county records, FSBO’s, all these places makes if sure easy to shop and a get real estate advice. Again, not the same.

But let’s stand back and look what value-add a bookstore employees brings.

  • –You can tell them what you like and they can recommend another great book.
  • –You can tell them what experience your seeking or what you want to learn about and they can hand you the perfect book.
  • –You can discuss books and authors and theories and have a great old time.
  • –You can sit and relax and browse book after book and drink great coffee.

Now, what might a Realtor have in common with a bookstore employee?

  • –You can tell a real estate agent what you want and they can show you just the right property.
  • –You can discuss your desires with an agent and they can make recommendations based on what’s important to you: schools, architecture, age, neighborhood, etc.
  • –You can trust an agent to work for you and rely on them to give you all the information you need to make the right decision.
  • –You can sit and relax and talk real estate and drink good coffee.

Hmm, both sound like great occupations to me.

With books and real estate, you can get the information and buy a book or home without these local experts. However, you might not like the book you buy and you might not like the home either. Or pay too much and have remorse or end up living in a property that just isn’t right.

Long live the local bookstores and Realtors.

Regards,

Charlie

Good coffee in Steamboat
Good coffee in Steamboat