The Bookshop as an Experiencescape: the future of the physical book and the bookshop in the digital era

The purpose of this thesis is to position the physical and independent bookshop in the digital era, claiming that they do have a strong place there. The rationale of viewing the bookshop as a space in which an experience can be had, intends to give independent bookshops a guide on how to remain as such. I focused on an English language bookshop in Istanbul, Turkey and conducted fieldwork for 3 months. To evaluate and learn from the findings I used the concept of Experiencescapes and the theories of liminality, fetishism and sign value. The material gathered was all primary and collected by means of interviews, observations and walk-along interviews. The significance of these results is that the shop is to be seen as not only a space in which a book is sold, but also an experience and the values imposed on English language books in Istanbul. These findings will act as a guide for independent bookshops in their battle against digital technologies and alternatives.