Hay does have a lot of secondhand bookshops and their existence has elevated a small backwater of a town into a successful tourist destination. However, in recent years a lot of bookshops have closed - becoming antique/curio shops instead (source Wikipedia). I suspect that many of the tourists to "The Town of Books" don't buy enough books to sustain the local economy.
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99% of those bookshops are in Hay-on-Wye
Hay does have a lot of secondhand bookshops and their existence has elevated a small backwater of a town into a successful tourist destination. However, in recent years a lot of bookshops have closed - becoming antique/curio shops instead (source Wikipedia). I suspect that many of the tourists to "The Town of Books" don't buy enough books to sustain the local economy.
Wigtown in Scotland is another one, every other building in the village is a bookshop.