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Sam Hart, the chef who owns Counter- and Biblio in Charlotte, N.C., has taken a counterintuitive approach: putting guests last.

For dealers who survived the pandemic, “the used-book business has never been healthier,” says Wonder Book owner Chuck Roberts, a 42-year veteran in the trade, strolling through his three-acre warehouse, a veritable biblio wonderland, jammed with volumes ranging from never-been-cracked publishers’ overstock to centuries-old classics bound in leather.

But while sitting in my study, I was conscious that I had to avoid letting my gaze stray into the C section, and that if I did happen to glance over there, I would always fixate on this weird biblio equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle in the vain hope that, in all of my previous searches, I had somehow overlooked the book with Cartier-Bresson’s portrait of Camus on the cover, staring me existentially in the face.

Employees will telework and will staff the Ask a Librarian/Biblio Consulta service, the online library and social media.

Some customers are checking out the store’s selection on the company’s website, which uses a service called Biblio, and then calling the store directly to make sure it doesn’t pay any fees.