It’s a bad economy. Businesses are closing all over the place. Bookstores are no exception. Just last week, the venerable San Francisco bookstore Stacey’s closed their doors after nearly 86 years in business. You probably wouldn’t be here, reading this, if you didn’t love books. Chances are, the news of a bookstore closing hurts you as much as it does me. I’ve worked in a bookstore that closed. I was one of the last ones out the door and it still pains me to think of that place not being filled with books anymore.
Now I know ordering online is convenient. You can do it in your pajamas. But your neighborhood store can be even more convenient, as evidenced by my experience last week. I needed a book for my son. I called my local bookstore. They had a copy and they put it aside for me. They are located in the same shopping plaza as a grocery store. I swung by, picked up my books and did my grocery shopping. I had my book within 30 minutes. Even if they didn’t have the book in stock, they likely would have been able to get it within a few days. Again, they’re simply a stop on my way to the store.
So think about it: what would you miss most if your local bookstore closed?
p.s. If you’re reading this before March 31, 2009, check out the Love Your Indie contest over at author Joe Hill’s website. Lots of great prizes and an excuse to go buy a book (like you need one of those)!
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for this eloquent defense of local bookstores!
I love our customers, but the reality that they need to shop us for all their book needs in order for us to stay in business seems to elude many of them.
May we reproduce this on our website??
absolutely Susan!
Hurray! You have some excellent points here – one thing I do know is though, the old-style bookshops still need to adapt to survive…that is a simple fact of life! Just in the same way that sites like gurgle adapted to the new internet world, so should bookshops…it’s vital I’m afraid.
…. I wish I had a local bookstore.
The indie book shops and used book dealers have been shutting down in my area, some after 50 years of service. Interestingly, one bookshop now exists only as an online vendor and does very nicely at that! However, I miss the “treasure hunt” of browsing through stacks and the booksellers who can provide “concierge” service (i.e. putting aside books they think you’ll like.) I currently scour book exchanges, flea markets and yard sales, hoarding books like survivalists cache food and water!
One of the main reasons we bought a condo where we did(Pasadena,CA) was the location: behind Vroman’s bookstore. They even have a little coffee shop attached to it. If they left, we certainly wouldn’t plan a future here. My only complaint is that they close way too early.
Jody-
I LOVE that your version of the real estate adage “location, location, location” translated to “near a great bookstore, near a great bookstore, near a great bookstore!”