Wi-Fi shunned by indie bookstores in London combatting online distractions

The battle to snag the precious attention of consumers swimming in a sea of ubiquitous Wi-Fi is being waged on a new front in London: bookstores. 

Independent bricks and mortar bookstores in London like Libreria Books, Tenderbooks, Word on the Water, Buchhandlung Walther König and Lutyens & Rubinstein are all shunning the practice of offering Wi-Fi to customers, according to a report in the New York Times. 

The practice, which has become popular at many bookstores in recent years, took hold as places like Starbucks and Barnes & Noble began allowing customers to read, drink java and even browse the internet, all in a bid to stoke interest in those store's offline inventory.  Read more...