A couple of articles in the P-D last week about local bookstores:

Big Sleep bookstore, a CWE bookstore dedicated to mystery novels, is holding its own as similar stores in other cities close shop. P-D link

Meanwhile, Subterranean in the Loop needs either increased sales or decreased rent to stay open. P-D link

I wonder if the Loop, especially west of Skinker, is the right place for Subterranean today. The increased foot traffic apparently isn't translating to increased sales enough to compensate for the rising rent. Maybe Subterranean would be better suited to a different neighborhood.

^South Grand.

It seems that with the continued increase of book sales online, that bookstores in the traditional sense are becoming obsolete.

Even when I go to a big chain like Borders, I can never find what I want. Online shopping gets me what I want at a pretty good price.

I wrote a blog post on this topic here: http://nextstl.com/urban-living/the-pli ... bookseller

^^Borders possible bankruptcy illustrates your point..

From the P-D, Indie St. Louis bookstores form 'alliance', including Left Bank Books, Subterranean, Pudd'nhead Books, and Main Street Books, "to help them raise awareness of their stores." They expect others, including used book sellers, to also join.

An interesting perspective here:

The alliance has nothing to do with the Borders bankruptcy, but Furrer said that when she opened her Webster Groves store two years ago she thought that in five years there would be "independent bookstores, Amazon and that's it."

rbeedee wrote:From the P-D, Indie St. Louis bookstores form 'alliance', including Left Bank Books, Subterranean, Pudd'nhead Books, and Main Street Books, "to help them raise awareness of their stores." They expect others, including used book sellers, to also join.

An interesting perspective here:

The alliance has nothing to do with the Borders bankruptcy, but Furrer said that when she opened her Webster Groves store two years ago she thought that in five years there would be "independent bookstores, Amazon and that's it."

Her quote doesn't make sense to me. One would expect savvy brick and mortars to come up with a solid solution for book distribution utilizing the e-reader model. Borders failed where Barnes and Noble didn't. Indies are shut out of this market because they have nothing but a losing option in affiliate sales.

They're also holding an e-reader petting zoo. I'm not so sure about that but it seems like a smart idea for them to band together and post events and the like in a common place. Ref: http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyr ... liance.php

I think of local indie bookstores as serving a different community than Amazon (or other online distributors), which I think serves or will serve) the exact same market as Barnes and Noble. Indie bookstores are places of community and are "part of the neighborhood" in a way that chains (including Borders, Barnes and Noble, etc) are not, and they also attract the "buy local" crowd. If e-readers replace paperbacks in a big way, I can see indies staying around in an niche market. Barnes and Noble may stay afloat, or even prosper, with the Nook and its publishing arm, but I foresee them transitioning to a predominantly online business, an Amazon focused on books. I can't imagine them sticking around in a brick-and-mortar format if the market for physical books shrinks down as much as expected, and it's hard for me to see what advantage they would have over Amazon. I suspect her remark is along similar lines: the chains are going to be competing head-to-head with Amazon in the near future, and she's betting on Amazon.

rbeedee wrote:I think of local indie bookstores as serving a different community than Amazon (or other online distributors), which I think serves or will serve) the exact same market as Barnes and Noble. Indie bookstores are places of community and are "part of the neighborhood" in a way that chains (including Borders, Barnes and Noble, etc) are not, and they also attract the "buy local" crowd. If e-readers replace paperbacks in a big way, I can see indies staying around in an niche market. Barnes and Noble may stay afloat, or even prosper, with the Nook and its publishing arm, but I foresee them transitioning to a predominantly online business, an Amazon focused on books. I can't imagine them sticking around in a brick-and-mortar format if the market for physical books shrinks down as much as expected, and it's hard for me to see what advantage they would have over Amazon. I suspect her remark is along similar lines: the chains are going to be competing head-to-head with Amazon in the near future, and she's betting on Amazon.

That's another way to look at it but she forgot about Google who's about to be a player as well. It's just, the selection at indie bookstores is not very good at all. Combine that with no relevant digital distribution and things start to look a bit bleak. Consumers want selection, cheap prices, and convenience. To be honest, Indies don't seem to have much to offer except for book signings. Can't libraries host them?

We're talking about inevitability here. In a world of MP3's, there are only so many Vintage Vinyls.

According to the article Left Bank is staying downtown for the time being. However the environment for local bookstores is a tough business. Even though books online are cheaper, shopping at a local bookstore is valuable and fun. Make sure you support all of them when you need a book. Shop local shop often.

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/b ... 0f31a.html

downtown2007 wrote:Even though books online are cheaper, shopping at a local bookstore is valuable and fun. Make sure you support all of them when you need a book. Shop local shop often.

If you have a non-Kindle ereader, you can support Left Bank by purchasing ebooks through their website: http://www.left-bank.com/

^^Did they really have to use a picture of Sammy Hagar signing a book to illustrate that article? Sheesh.

downtown2007 wrote:According to the article Left Bank is staying downtown for the time being. However the environment for local bookstores is a tough business. Even though books online are cheaper, shopping at a local bookstore is valuable and fun. Make sure you support all of them when you need a book. Shop local shop often.

Had a pleasant surprise this week, my wife and I had to get some books for our daughter's English class for the year and found that buying used through the local bookstore that the teacher recommended was slightly cheaper then amazon.

Left Bank Books is struggling, and is publicly asking for support.  

Yeah.  I ordered some books yesterday first thing in the morning and they still aren't available for pickup..

^Yep, it definitely had an impact. I have been buying from them throughout the pandemic and books would usually be ready in 1-2 days. Ordered something earlier in the week and it was only ready yesterday. 

I buy my books from Novel Neighbor in Webster, but made a donation to LBB.  I'll try to make another donation before the year ends.

I just find it a bit strange to make donations to a for-profit business. I mean, if people want to support them, buy some books. But to simply give them money? I don't know. 

framer wrote: ↑

Nov 02, 2020

I just find it a bit strange to make donations to a for-profit business. I mean, if people want to support them, buy some books. But to simply give them money? I don't know. 

Me too.  I'm definitely a liberal dude who believes in a social safety net, but I'm more of a "let the market rule" as far as businesses go.  That said, I can understand if some people would prefer to support their local independent bookstore rather than buying from Amazon.