<snip rant about amazon/hachette>
I'll just put a little note here (there are better places to have this argument probably) that I like scalzi's take on this: It's two international businesses arguing over billions of dollars, neither of which has *your* best interests at heart except where they happen to overlap with their best interests. And that azmn has paid me more than Hachette ever will.

>And, somewhat to my surprise, they had all six of them, all
>lined up in a neat little row, in the middle of what was, I have to
>say, a shockingly well-curated manga section (by comparison to
>the rest of the store).

This and the following statement are probably quite linked:

>... and her face lit up and she was suddenly all, "OMG I LOVE THIS
>SHOW HAVE YOU SEEN IT" and we were chatting away about what a charming
>program it is and who our favorite member of Hōkago Tea Time is

Most bookstores (including the chains) delegate to at least some degree the upkeep of a section to a single, or small group, of employees (not to say there isn't overlap, but). So, if generally the people working there are register biscuits, they'll follow the corporate advice to the letter (and poorly at that). But, if they're actually quite passionate about the subject, they'll give their bosses<1> a lot of advice about ordering, and will sort of go out of their way to make sure that the shelves look good and are well stocked.

That, or Bangor has a more thriving manga readership than I'm giving them credit for.

--
-Pasha <1> This, of course, assumes that their bosses will accept such advice and aren't morons.
"Don't change the subject"
"Too slow, already did."