Turns out Publisher's Weekly has its uses for research.
The data is old, 2013 but it still make a point about bookstore concentration.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/...tores-are.html
Bookselling By State
States Population Total Stores Per Capita
1 Montana 1,005,141 64 15,705
2 Wyoming 576,412 35 16,469
3 Vermont 626,011 38 16,474
4 Alabama 4,822,023 286 16,860
5 Tennessee 6,456,243 369 17,497
6 Nebraska 1,845,525 105 17,576
7 Arkansas 2,949,131 165 17,874
8 Colorado 5,187,582 288 18,012
9 Kansas 2,885,905 160 18,037
10 Missouri 6,021,988 330 18,248
11 Alaska 731,449 40 18,286
12 Iowa 3,074,186 168 18,299
13 Minnesota 5,379,139 293 18,359
14 Washington, D.C. 632,323 34 18,598
15 South Carolina 4,723,723 251 18,820
16 Mississippi 2,984,926 157 19,012
17 West Virginia 1,855,413 97 19,128
18 Georgia 9,919,945 508 19,527
19 Indiana 6,537,334 333 19,632
20 North Carolina 9,752,073 486 20,066
21 Oklahoma 3,814,820 189 20,184
22 Kentucky 4,380,415 211 20,760
23 New Mexico 2,085,538 97 21,500
24 Louisiana 4,601,893 213 21,605
25 South Dakota 833,354 38 21,930
26 Virginia 8,185,866 372 22,005
27 Oregon 3,899,353 173 22,540
28 New Hampshire 1,320,718 55 24,013
29 Florida 19,317,568 797 24,238
30 Illinois 12,875,255 523 24,618
31 Ohio 11,544,225 467 24,720
32 Wisconsin 5,726,398 231 24,790
33 Idaho 1,595,728 63 25,329
34 North Dakota 699,628 27 25,912
35 Texas 26,059,203 1,004 25,955
36 Maine 1,329,192 51 26,062
37 Utah 2,855,287 109 26,195
38 Pennsylvania 12,763,536 478 26,702
39 Arizona 6,553,255 238 27,535
40 Maryland 5,884,563 199 29,571
41 Washington 6,897,012 230 29,987
42 Michigan 9,883,360 327 30,224
43 Delaware 917,092 30 30,570
44 Nevada 2,758,931 89 30,999
45 Massachusetts 6,646,144 213 31,203
46 California 38,041,430 1,185 32,102
47 Connecticut 3,590,347 102 35,199
48 Hawaii 1,392,313 36 38,675
49 New York 19,570,261 505 38,753
50 Rhode Island 1,050,292 27 38,900
51 New Jersey 8,864,590 217 40,851
Total 313,904,193 12,703 24,053
Lots more detail at the source, but the point is clear, even with the fall of Borders, physical bookstore access is a function of where you live. If you're in New York you have hundreds of stores you can get to. If you live in Idaho, outside Boise...
And, even in Illinois, the divide is notable. More than half the state total in 2007 was in Chicago.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/...illinois.htmla
Quote:
Illinois ranks fifth in the country in total number of bookstores—and more than half of those serve Chicagoland. Among them are more than 90 independent bookstores, including 43 of ABA members and 28 of CBA members. Twenty-two of Barnes & Noble's 35 Illinois stores are in Chicagoland, three of them inside the city limits. Thirty of Borders's 40 Illinois stores are located in the metro area, though only nine of its 25 Waldenbooks stores. Eleven Borders stores and two Waldenbooks are located in Chicago itself, including what several publishers' reps said they consider to be one of Borders's top stores, the superstore located on a heavily trafficked corner of North Michigan Avenue, the hub of the city's famed Magnificent Mile shopping district.
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That was before Borders imploded so the ratio of population to store has only gone up with closures, ebooks, and online. If anything, the big city stores have lots of remaining stores but smaller cities and towns never had that kind of depth.
Lots of people go online/digital because it's their only viable choice.
It's Amazon or tbe spinner rack at the drug store. If that.