Bookstores, Value and Scarcity
Jeff Deutsch:
Value increases with scarcity. But scarcity can also result from our undervaluing something of great value. We might consider it thus: there is an inflated value based on scarcity and a scarcity based on deflated value. While the things that are deemed of value for no other reason than their scarcity grow more valuable by dint of increasing scarcity, those things that are scarce by dint of being undervalued are likely to pass into extinction. Bookstores are scarce because we undervalue them, and good bookstores are scarce because we undervalue our cultural wealth.
In Praise of Good Bookstores, p. 80