The interesting point is how little of the positive bookstore experience you describe actually involved taking the book home. It seems to me that there might be a niche for something that is a cross between a bookstore, a library and the old Edwardian gentleman's club - a space with books and coffee/bar that is supported by subscriptions (and drink sales) as much as actual book sales, and where the books are curated to some extent for their interest to the membership rather than commercial value. I'd pay a monthly fee to be able to go hang out in a nice space full of books that are selected to be interesting (to me!) rather than stuff like "Chicken Soup for the Soul" and the latest fad diet.
A bit old timey but they do have a great book and art collection, a reading room, a separate room to just read newspapers, discussion events. They also lend iPads and kindles to members.
There is something of a low brow version of this in Japan - manga kissa - But they evolved into a refuge for the working homeless, runaway teenager, salaryman wanting porn while out pretending to be drumming up sales... Very weird but a cheap place to sleep when traveling on a shoestring.
I would sign up for this! A gentleman's club sounds elitist - which is one way of keeping "community quality" up I suppose. But to me it's a rather ugly and exclusive way of doing it. Ideally, the audience would self select. The people who wouldn't fit the place and mindset wouldn't want to come in the first place. I don't even know how to begin to think about how one would come about doing that or how one would start such a community and expect people to come and socialize, though.
To clarify, I did not mean to indicate elitism by mentioning gentlemen's clubs - rather their social purpose, which is in fact close to how many people use Starbucks or other wi-fi coffee shops today: somewhere to go instead of going home, where you can get a drink and something to eat and spend some quality time with your laptop, or socialize if you are so minded. If you paid a subscription, you wouldn't feel bad about occupying a table as long as you wanted, and the bandwidth would be better :-)
Maybe a more literary, less alcoholic version of the Elk's Lodges and other fraternal organizations? I would love to see a revival of these groups, which are right now dominated by unfriendly old men getting wasted on cheap drinks.
The London Library, a private library in London's St James Square ( the heart of London's gentleman's clubland ) is a well established version of this ideal.
http://www.londonlibrary.co.uk/
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The London Library is now the world's largest independent lending library. It owes its foundation in 1841 to the vision of Thomas Carlyle, who in many ways remains its tutelary genius. But he was not alone in his desire to establish an institution which would allow subscribers to enjoy something of the wealth of a national library for use in their own homes: the Earl of Clarendon, that enlightened early-Victorian politician, was the Library's first president, Thackeray its first auditor; Gladstone and Sir Edward Bunbury were on the first committee. Early members included Dickens and George Eliot. The Library's long-standing role at the centre of the intellectual life of the nation is reflected in the roll-call of its past presidents and vice-presidents, which include Tennyson, Kipling, T. S. Eliot, Rebecca West and Isaiah Berlin. The Library's current president is Sir Tom Stoppard.
The Library stands at the north-west corner of St James's Square, as it has since 1845, after briefly occupying the first floor of the Travellers Club in Pall Mall
Sort of a bookstore version of HN, I suppose.