All the customers are there and the company has perhaps spent more time than any other figuring out how to sell books to people. They're better at it than everyone else.
As a consumer, I invest time and money to try buy elsewhere (and boycott Amazon) when I can, but it's not always easy. Also, I'm aware that these kind of Don Quixote boycots seldomly have an impact macro economically. Nevertheless, I keep trying...
Macroeconomically, it probably makes precisely zero difference, but it makes me feel better to be supporting local shops.
I figured it was an event, and had nothing else to do, so I got in line, too. When the doors opened, they all scattered to different parts of the store. So, no author signing or music release. Just people who like books.
Are you British by any chance?
At least around where I live, this wasn't a single-step process. What happened was that big bookstores (both chains and local) started pushing out the mom and pop indies. And then they themselves complained as Amazon in particular ate their lunch.
I really did like going into town to do various shopping, in particular bookstore (new and used) browsing, once or twice a month. On the other hand, I can't say I hate instant ebook delivery or a physical copy in a day or two if that's what I want for some reason.
Nowadays, many do have online offers where you can "borrow" e-books.
Of course, any library's catalogue is probably smaller than Amazons, but they usually are quite up-to-date with mainstream stuff and have more than you could ever hope to read in any case.
Plus you get to have a warm fuzzy feeling for supporting an institution that is really good for your local community :)
They wrote a book, I'm happy to pay for it in some manner and Kindle Unlimited honestly seems like the fairest possible solution, I as a reader aren't required to buy in advance, I can try it to see if I enjoy it and if I do the author gets paid per page read.
And the inventory isn't censored either. I started a reread of Gravity's Rainbow and that came from Carrolton (college town). Certain gory/raunchy murder mystery series come from the oddest places. Series like Game of Thrones. And highbrow academic stuff like Anne Hollander.
Reminds me I got to log on and extend a couple of titles.
But yeah, we still buy dead tree books, occasionally, from Amazon, but only if we want to keep them. It turns out PINES is great for that, too. Just put it on hold, review it in person, and if it's actually good, buy it.