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Have to agree - I wonder if this is trying to solve the problems faced by physical bookstores, rather than trying to solve problems faced by consumers.

Another reply to you mentions the niche-in-a-big-market thought (which is fair enough), but for me something like Book Depository solves my 'problem' perfectly - painless, cheap, etc. I will read a book in the morning, lying in some ridiculous position on the couch, in airports; no part of me at those times wishes I was reading in some public space.

Being allowed to enter isn't the same as being a Supporting Member. There's people who show up, and there's the in crowd. If a store can work it so that access to community is really what's being sold, it has a shot with this model. It might be particularly powerful for stores that do a lot of events.

But in lot of populous, emerging economy such as India for e.g., even the "niches are huge". <borrowed term>