A shop built around staying, not just buying
The shop opened in a narrow storefront with a staircase too steep for a cart, which turned out to be the point - it kept the shop small enough that one person could still know every book on every shelf. Ten years later, that is still true, even with three staff instead of one.
Used and rare stock comes from estate sales, retiring professors, and the occasional box left on the doorstep. Every book is read, or at least skimmed, before it goes on the shelf - that is slower than scanning a barcode, and it is why the shelves stay small.
We measure a good week by how many people stayed past the first chapter, not by how many left with a bag. Both happen here, but only one of them is the actual point.
