Although services and retailing are usually regarded as relevant experiential contexts and investments in creating an experiential environment are growing, little consideration has been given to the investigation of the general consumption experiences and their emotions in retailing. By adopting an ethnographic approach to study the buying processes in two Italian bookstores – a small traditional family-run bookshop and a large international chain store – that, by definition, are high in perceived complexity and symbolicity products, we present two distinct business models based on different processes of valorisation of purchasers’ emotions. The theoretical and managerial implications of these results are then described.