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The bottom line in this discussion seems to be that the people who want to keep independent bookstores in their communities must be willing to pay to preserve them, either in higher prices for ebooks (at least a little more than the Amazon discount), or in the cost of time spent leaving home to reach a physical store. The Independents need something to attract customers.
The lowest common denominator for an Independent Bookstore is the coffee shop that sells ebooks plus a small stock of best-sellers. Most communities larger than about 5,000 could support one, but to make it work they would need support from their community and the publishers, too. Putting a bookshelf with first chapters of books, curated for that community, in the coffee shop and making Wi-Fi available (maybe with a small charge for ebook downloads from that Wi-Fi PID), might help cement the notion of a quiet read with a good book and a coffee.
Americans can buy ebooks from a local independent bookstore now but we still wander off to Amazon over price, and, let's face it, because Amazon is a nice service. But supporting something like this does not seem to be something Amazon wants to invest in.
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