Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Whereas for me, my nearest decent bookshops are a big city (Manchester) about 40 minutes' drive away, with expensive car-parking charges  . |
That sounds like a more B&N type situation. Few stores, bigger, but farther apart to give each store enough of a regional "draw distance" to balance out the books. So to speak.
The small storefront+POD concept is conceived more as the old-school mythical neighborhood bookstore (which in the US never existed outside NYC and other big cities, if at all) or, more realistically, a suburban strip mall chain that brings bookstores within a few miles of the target consumers. As a chain store model the stores wouldn't be as abundant as Starbucks (unless they were co-located
) but there would be more than just a few hundred to serve the entire US. In suburban driving time terms, figure 10-15 minute drives at worst.
Instead of trying to draw consumers in from large distances, a POD-enhanced store would effectively pre-position the books close to where the buyers are. Like placing lots of medical facilities near retirement communities or auto parts stores near dealers.