Cantos Booksellers

.. to Ms Procopio, she has only been rude to me once and I have visited Cantos several times over the years (though not recently). On the one hand I admire her for making an effort to succeed in the bookselling game, but it doesn't really seem to be panning out. It's a tough business and, sure, she sometimes takes a condescending tone with costumers (eg, "you obviously wouldn't know what a trade edition is"). It could be that she's trying to import a business model to the Valley that has only limited appeal. Say, a way of operating that might succeed in Binghamton, NY, but not down the road in Vestal. Or maybe she simply hasn't found the right customer yet!

I had the perhaps the most unusual and insulting shopping experience of my life at Cantos. I was looking (and had found) a book that I wanted. As I opened the book, the shopkeep rushed over and asked me if it was in my "price range" -- was she implying that I had no money (for the record, I am the chief executive of an arts organization). She took the book from my hands and "explained" to me that I could not look inside the book because it made it look used -- and "who wants to buy a used book," she said. I said, "Who wants to buy a book when they haven't had a chance to see if it covers what they need?" (The book was a legal/medical reference for Alzheimer's caregivers, and I was searching for specific info). I took the book back and said I needed to see the chapter titles before I bought it. Well, this highly strung clerk/manager grabbed the book from my hands and took it to the counter and put it out of my reach. I said, "I was going to buy that book, " and she replied, "No you weren't" in a terribly condescending manner. I replied that my grandmother had Alzheimer's and I was searching for a book like this for my father (her primary caregiver). She turned her back and walked away from me. I WILL NEVER GO IN THIS STORE AGAIN. It was not like this four or five years ago. No matter how knowledgable this woman is about books or how many hard-to-find titles she may have, it is certainly not worth being treated so rudely. Try Amazon -- at least you can read a few pages online and not "ruin the spine."

My friend and I stopped at Cantos Booksellers today to shop for a few books. Imagine my surprise when the clerk (possible the owner, if not she should be fired) asked my friend if she was planning on buying the book she was looking through. When my friend responded that she was only browsing the clerk shut the book and told her she could not look at it without purchasing it. We immediately left the store, which was empty when we came in and now I understand why. I have read reviews of this place on other sites and we are not the only ones to have this experience. I support local business and booksellers in particular, but I will NEVER buy another thing from Cantos.