Even in a market that may be tougher than ever for independent bookstores, there are niches — like, say, the paranormal — that the big chains just can’t fill as well as a single passionate shop owner. At Germ, in Philadelphia, the “new and used books all fit under the umbrella of what might be called Apocalypse Culture: UFOs, Bigfoot, Kennedy assassination, ghosts, time travel, conspiracy, ESP, the unexplained, unknown and just plain peculiar.”