Whither Landmark?

This rant has been pending for a while.

For years I have bought from the Landmark bookstores across India, especially in Bangalore, Chennai and Mumbai in my stints in each of the cities. I have lamented the condition of full-priced books at Landmark on several occasions in the past. I admit I am a bargain hunter, but even if I weren't, it is reasonably standard practice in the industry to discount books which are not in excellent condition. If you walked into the Forum outlet in Bangalore, you will find books in poor condition ranging from soiled copies to those with dog-ears and several with torn covers, all at full price. I have shown these to the store manager (more than one of them) on my visits to the store in the past, but the incidence of such copies has rarely changed. On several occasions, the copy in less-than-perfect condition is the only copy the store has. Combined with the drop in the available selection of books at Landmark, this makes a trip to the bookstore quite a chore.

Additionally I learnt of a weird condition that Landmark imposes. You can't use their gift vouchers or gift cards online. This means that you may end up buying books at increased prices at the store when you can buy them online bookstores including their own website at discounts. And I know this is not a fair comparison since online bookstores usually sell copies at discounts anyways but a bookstore which has an online presence does expose itself to this comparison anyways. Why'd you shoot yourself in the foot like this? Sure, not every book buyer looks up prices online when they are buying. But surely you'd notice the disparity sooner or later.

In any case, I no longer buy from them and have switched to discounted copies from Flipkart/Infibeam or ebooks from Flipkart/Amazon. I ended up making a visit today since some generous souls had gifted cards. I can't figure out whether it is apathy from the management to let the books section decay or whether it is a deliberate move or something else.

But still it pains a bit each time I visit the store to see the store whither like this, since I have good memories from shopping there in the past. Such is life