Yesterday I finally made it to visit a Gecko Books store. I really was impressed. I never had imagined that there is such a large selection of foreign books in Chiang Mai. Great job UG!

I went into the new annex today with my wife, and IMMEDIATELY found two books that I had been looking for at all the other branches, as well as at all the other bookshops in town! George, I'm going to beat you severely about the head and shoulders with a dead fish for not telling me these were there!! YOU are the one who recommended them to me in the first place!!!

One shall be in to check out the totty, uh, I mean new stock, forthwith

UG - might have to charge 10bht admission, since Uni students are prominently on display!!

OK, we've sung the praises of this pleasure palace long enough, and never the sign of a free book or even a significant discount being handed out.

Moderator, do your duty.

Bingo.... Great - and much closer to home too....

Will add the location to the Rotweilermaps GPS map as well.

If you were walking or driving from Moonmuang/Chaiyapoom roads with the traffic towards the Night Bazaar you will come to Night Bazaar Books and the Chiang Mai Saloon about three quarters of the way to McDonalds on the right side, about 10 meters before you reach the big beer-bar center with Thai Boxing and many lady boys. If you go another 10 meters, you reach the Kamphaeng Din intersection.

I went into the new annex today with my wife, and IMMEDIATELY found two books that I had been looking for at all the other branches, as well as at all the other bookshops in town! George, I'm going to beat you severely about the head and shoulders with a dead fish for not telling me these were there!! YOU are the one who recommended them to me in the first place!!!

I'm pretty sure that we are the only bookstore in town that has a significant numbers of new books coming in every single day, all year round, so they could have appeared in the last few days. Also, we have imported a lot of new stock for the newest stores - they might have been in those boxes - and, by the way, there are a lot more great books on the way for high season!

I haven't been in Gecko Books for a while. The new, bigger selection will probably get me to come in for a look again soon (not the uni students - I'm surrounded by them all day). But one thing I didn't like so much on my earlier visits was the plastic wrapping on so many books. Is this still a general policy? I understand the desire to keep books in good condition, but I usually won't buy a book if I can't leaf through it first.

A lot of our better books are stored in plastic. However, I am a prolific reader and I like to look at an author's style before I buy a book, so I realize that the plastic wrapping is a slight inconvenience, but, we always tell customers to remove the wrapping whenever they like, look at the books, and just hand us back any that they don't want to buy.

The truth is that LOTS of our books are in perfect, brand new condition when we put them on the shelves, but they are soon damaged if they are not wrapped and whoever buys it might get a soiled, beat-up book instead of a nice clean one.

I have experimented with having a nice unwrapped copy and a wrapped one for sale side by side, and the customers ALWAYS buy the wrapped one.

I think that it is worth keeping them in the best condition possible as long as customers have the option to look them over whenever they like.

A lot of our better books are stored in plastic. However, I am a prolific reader and I like to look at an author's style before I buy a book, so I realize that the plastic wrapping is a slight inconvenience, but, we always tell customers to remove the wrapping whenever they like, look at the books, and just hand us back any that they don't want to buy.

The truth is that LOTS of our books are in perfect, brand new condition when we put them on the shelves, but they are soon damaged if they are not wrapped and whoever buys it might get a soiled, beat-up book instead of a nice clean one.

I have experimented with having a nice unwrapped copy and a wrapped one for sale side by side, and the customers ALWAYS buy the wrapped one.

I think that it is worth keeping them in the best condition possible as long as customers have the option to look them over whenever they like.

It appears to be fairly standard procedure in the tropics where people have sweaty hands. I've found my older paper backs at home don't seem to have the life span of those I've owned in more temperate climates.

I have experimented with having a nice unwrapped copy and a wrapped one for sale side by side, and the customers ALWAYS buy the wrapped one.

I think that it is worth keeping them in the best condition possible as long as customers have the option to look them over whenever they like.

This, IMO (as an also prolific reader) is your best option if you have more than one copy of a book. One to be beaten up abit, the rest wrapped. Nothing is more annoying than a wrapped book with no synopsis on the back.

we always tell customers to remove the wrapping whenever they like, look at the books, and just hand us back any that they don't want to buy.

I think that it is worth keeping them in the best condition possible as long as customers have the option to look them over whenever they like.

Fair enough. Thanks for the clarification. I'll be in some time soon. And good luck with the expansion.