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Originally Posted by Sparrow
There was discussion about this on 'You and Yours' (BBC Radio4) yesterday - they agreed about NBA, and also pointed out that supermarkets had moved into discounted book sales too (e.g. Asda selling Potter for a pound).
The independents had to find niche markets to survive.
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That's been happening in the US for some time. The independents can't match the pricing that the big chains like Barnes and Noble and Borders can offer, and are getting badly squeezed. And B&N and Borders are getting squeezed by discount retailers like Wal-Mart, CostCo, and Sam's Club. (There's some question as to whether Borders can continue as a going concern.)
The other side-effect that doesn't get mentioned is the concentration of buying power into fewer and fewer hands. Publishers sell to wholesalers and big retailers, and there are fewer of those each day. The buyers for places like CostCo and Sam's Club have enormous clout in the industry because of the volume they buy.
The independents I'm aware of that survive are all niche market specialists.
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Dennis