Alignment

[Thomas]

Really? Here in the US, lots of supermarkets have little pieces of various foods on trays and whatnot so that you can try it to see if you like it.

Same here. It's good service, and tends to build up a good reputation for a store, which is obviously important.

Though I can see why a bookstore would be annoyed if you read, say, a DnD book inside the store. That kind of thing you could easily read one PrC or article or template or what have you and then leave with the knowledge (albeit unable to look it up again). For something like an actual novel, you can't read much during the time in the store. If you try to stay long enough to read a significant portion of the book, I bet they'll claim your messing it up and make you buy it.

That's just silly. I never buy a RPG book (even a book I know I'm going to get no matter what) without taking a look inside and getting an idea about what's in there. Why should I buy something just based on its cover? It's not a story - it's a reference manual.