cell phones in book stores

i recieved a call from a reporter at the virginian pilot yesterday asking me about credit cards, fees, particularly visa and mastercard and if i thought our business would drop if we either refused to take credit cards all together or even just discover and amex because the fees are so much higher for those. i told her i'm certain it would, nobody carries cash or check anymore but was just thinking that i would worry more about losing our customer base if i put up a sign that said no cell phones allowed in the store.

now, think about that. who talks on their cell phone while in a bookstore? the idea of browsing through shelves of books is to think, to find something interesting and maybe an idea that you wouldn't have found otherwise in a nonfiction book or be entertained entirely by a novel. HOW CAN YOU LET ANYTHING SOAK IN OR "GET" IT IF YOU'RE ON THE PHONE THE ENTIRE TIME YOU'RE IN MY STORE? Do we need to be entertained by others always? Can we not just browse, read, have a little quiet time on our own?

And this doesn't even address the reason you might shop at an independent store versus a chain, which is the idea that behind the counter, i'm sitting here, working on something or reading a book, but always ready to put down what i'm doing to talk about books or anything else you have in mind. norfolk is fortunate to have colin powell coming to speak at our forum on tuesday, i'll talk with you about that. i'm reading a book about hay-on-wye, this town in england that has 1500 residents and 40 bookstores, will be happy to talk to you about that and what a difference it is in the american bookselling industry from england's. and you know what, if you don't want to talk and be left alone to soak in a few books, i'm ok with that too!

what i'm beginning to not be ok with is if you come into my store with your telephone attached to your ear and you disturb customers that are otherwise happy to be left alone and browsing because you can't put on hold your discussion with the person on the other line about what you're having for lunch or who is hooking up with who. my happy, quiet browsers don't want to hear it. i'm not saying that they don't want to talk to you, this is a bookstore created with the goal of sharing ideas and broadening minds. it's just hard to talk with you if you're talking to someone that we can't share in your conversation with.