Are you also surprised when you hear about somebody going into a bookstore and buying a book?
Unfortunately, the PVC used will off-gas even when they're not being played[1], so this even applies to the 48%[2] of record buyers who never play them.
(percentage of people who read) * (percentage of people who want a paper book) * (percentage of people who don't have a better discovery mechanism than browsing shelves) * (percentage of people who want to spend their valuable free-time in a retail area) * (percentage of people who don't have a library card) * (percentage of people who are willing to pay a premium above Amazon for all of the above) = pretty low, I reckon?
I assume people going to bookshops are looking for a nostalgia kick and willing to pay extra for it. I note in the UK that Daunt Books bags seem to be the same phenomenon as these bags.
The beginning of the essay at https://randsinrepose.com/archives/the-forums says something about browsing, and why I'd rather do it in person.
I will however argue that textbooks are straight-up better in the apple books thing. Graphics and footnotes handle like crap in comparison on the kindle. I don't know why as it doesn't appear to be a technical limitation—maybe it's a format thing? Regardless, You'd get like 95% of the benefit with a pdf, though.