Continuing my pondering about bookstore design...

Since Indie Bookstores give you a chance to walk through the imagination of the community they serve, do the big chain bookstores give you a chance to walk through the imagination of the mainstream?

I don't necessarily think so. However, endcaps and those shelves in the middle of the aisle are probably as close to that as you're going to get.

Once you dive off the aisles, regional buyers likely adjust to their communities with the way that the ordering system works (i.e. books that don't sell are pulled in favor of new titles, and books that do sell are re-ordered when they sell, in the same quantities).