Quote:
Originally Posted by ProfCrash
Agreed. The current independent stores will probably stabilize and some new ones will spring up. It is going to be hard for people in more rural areas because there is a smaller chance that an independent bookstore will open so they might lack a store devoted to books. Towns and cities will probably be fine. The selection might not be as good but I am sure that the independent stores will order books for folks and will adjust what they sell based on the local market.
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I think you might be overestimating the presence of independent bookstores in most cities and towns. I grew up in a town of 50,000 with a college, but the only independent "bookstore" we had in the 70's was a "book and card store" with a very limited supply of books. We were in heaven when a Waldenbooks and B.Dalton opened in the mall....this was the first bookstore where I saw books shelved spine out - the book & card store had so few books that there was enough room to show them cover out.
In the early 2000's, B&N opened and the B.Dalton pulled out.
I think if B&N dies out, they will not be replaced by independents, but by smaller chains in malls. The way it was in most of the country before the big box stores.
Indy bookstores will still have to compete with Amazon, and while some existing stores have managed to survive, I don't think that this is a very easy business model, since they will lose on price, lose on selection, and, often, even lose on service.