Keeping Bookstores in Business

[suzyq]

I wanted to purchase a book for my 8 year old Niece.  Barnes and Noble didn't have it,
and I went to two other bookstores in NYC - no luck.  All three had them on-line.

Since I needed the book by Thursday (4/26/12) it would have been faster and cheaper
to pick the book up at a brick and mortar store - I ended up ordering it on Amazon as
a gift, they say it should be there by Thursday, who knows.

I miss Borders which was in the Time-Warner Building, guess that's the way it goes. Somehow
it doesn't make much sense to order a book on-line when it would have been easier to go
to a real, live book store.   

[Mirror Image]

I wouldn't be surprised if these stores belly up over the next 5 years or so. I think B & N do pretty good business online, but I've never shopped with them and don't intend to because of their high prices. Going into a B & N is even worse. They want me to pay how much for a CD? I don't think having a good sale is going to help their stores much. Less and less people are going to bookstores and the same applies to CD stores (there are even less of these). The Internet is seriously killing off all of these stores, but this has been going on since Amazon and Ebay launched their sites. I think a person has to be pretty naive to not be able to see that the good old days are long behind us.

[Szykneij]

There was an independently-run bookstore near where I live run by a wonderful couple. It held an important place in the community and was supported by a very loyal customer base (which included me.) The location was perfect, in the middle of town with a scenic view overlooking the river. You could sit and read while sipping your tea or snacking on scones and watch the swans and mergansers float by.
    The store had to close due to serious structural problems with the building. The landlord made some big mistakes and ran into all kinds of building permit issues and construction glitches. After a number of years, the building is almost ready to re-open and the bookstore people are anxious to make a go of it again. Unfortunately, during the time the store was closed, the book-selling industry has changed drastically to the detriment of brick and mortar outlets. It's almost unheard of for a store to be opening instead of closing during these times. I wish them all the luck in the world and will do my best to help them. It will be interesting to see how things turn out.

[Coopmv]

I wanted to purchase a book for my 8 year old Niece.  Barnes and Noble didn't have it,
and I went to two other bookstores in NYC - no luck.  All three had them on-line.

Since I needed the book by Thursday (4/26/12) it would have been faster and cheaper
to pick the book up at a brick and mortar store - I ended up ordering it on Amazon as
a gift, they say it should be there by Thursday, who knows.

I miss Borders which was in the Time-Warner Building, guess that's the way it goes. Somehow
it doesn't make much sense to order a book on-line when it would have been easier to go
to a real, live book store.   

So the government investigation into Apple and the publishers is a good thing.  I do not have any plan to go for ebooks ...

[Todd]

It's often quite hard to let go of the past for many, but most physical bookstores can't compete, so they will die off.  There will always be a niche market for specialist stores or used stores, but over the coming decades bookstores will become rarer and will eventually be curiosities.  It probably won't happen in my lifetime, but the writing is on the wall, or tablet, as it were. 

Personally, I have yet to adopt tablets and ebooks due only to price.  When an Apple iPad equivalent (meaning screen size and resolution, other nifty features, etc) is available for under $100-$150 or so, then I'll buy and jettison my physical magazine subscriptions and probably start buying ebooks as well, at least for most titles.  I hold no special attachment to bookstores, or CD stores, as I find the internet to be far more conducive to finding new and interesting material.  And with ebooks, one has no delivery time issues.

[Opus106]

I find the internet to be far more conducive to finding new and interesting material.

I do agree that shopping in the Web has its advantages, but with websites trying to be all-too-perfect in determining what each customer will like and displaying items according to those presumed needs, it is less likely to find something that is generally off one's radar yet somehow attracts the attention; a surprise discovery. This is one reason why I still enjoy tilting my head and reading the spines, book after book in a physical store, or spending an hour or two going through unorganised piles of books at a sale.

[Todd]

but with websites trying to be all-too-perfect in determining what each customer will like and displaying items according to those presumed needs

I do agree that the algorithms web-sites use can be limiting.  And sometimes wrong or repetitive.  Amazon has sent me several emails suggesting that I may enjoy titles that I've already purchased from them.  I don't even bother with suggestions offered on various web-sites; I treat them like TV commercials.

Perhaps my method of shopping and searching is different than most, but I either shop for something specific (eg, a new LvB sonata cycle or a specific book title) or buy on a whim (eg, it's Wednesday, so it's Renaissance madrigals or Southeast Asian history).  In either case, suggested titles are of no use.  When I buy on a whim, I always find more titles in a specific area online than I ever did in physical stores or libraries, including a local book emporium that is gigantic by any standard, and much bigger than any individual chain store, or the big local university library - and I did use to browse for hours on some occasions.

[Cato]

More people reading more books might keep them in business!

But...given that "aliteracy" (i.e. the ability to read but the refusal to read anything)  seems to be spreading, along with good ol' illiteracy, that does not seem to be happening.  Also given that Internet skimming seems to occupy an increasing percentage of the population, that would seem to prevent people from reading books.

I suspect bookstores might become an antiquarian interest.

[suzyq]

Thanks everyone - guess it's the sign of the times.  I like to going to the bookstore and if you think about it, Amazon doesn't save that much money.

The cost of the book, postage and tax can make it more expensive than going to a bookstore and making a purchase.  If a book is out of print Amazon can be a help.

Barnes and Nobel and several other bookstores didn't have what I was looking for except on-line, sort of defeats the purpose of keeping these stores open. 

[Ataraxia]

Thanks everyone - guess it's the sign of the times.  I like to going to the bookstore and if you think about it, Amazon doesn't save that much money.

The cost of the book, postage and tax can make it more expensive than going to a bookstore and making a purchase.  If a book is out of print Amazon can be a help.

Barnes and Nobel and several other bookstores didn't have what I was looking for except on-line, sort of defeats the purpose of keeping these stores open.

I like going to the book store too.

If your order is over $25 dollars there is no postage or tax at Amazon.

[Karl Henning]

I'd buy more books at B&N, if I were more a Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Da Vinci Code and Wombats for Complete Idiots guy.

[Ataraxia]

I'd buy more books at B&N, if I were more a Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Da Vinci Code and Wombats for Complete Idiots guy.

They stock the classics, dude.

[Karl Henning]

They stock the classics, dude.

Which are already on my shelf.

[Ataraxia]

Which are already on my shelf.

ALL of them? 

[Lethevich]

I do agree that shopping in the Web has its advantages, but with websites trying to be all-too-perfect in determining what each customer will like and displaying items according to those presumed needs, it is less likely to find something that is generally off one's radar yet somehow attracts the attention; a surprise discovery. This is one reason why I still enjoy tilting my head and reading the spines, book after book in a physical store, or spending an hour or two going through unorganised piles of books at a sale.

I agree that this is an essential experience, but I find second hand stores to be best for this. Unknown new books are easier to discover with general review sources (magazines, websites), making new-priced stores not a terrible loss for me.

[DavidW]

I wanted to purchase a book for my 8 year old Niece.  Barnes and Noble didn't have it,
and I went to two other bookstores in NYC - no luck.  All three had them on-line.

Since I needed the book by Thursday (4/26/12) it would have been faster and cheaper
to pick the book up at a brick and mortar store - I ended up ordering it on Amazon as
a gift, they say it should be there by Thursday, who knows.

I miss Borders which was in the Time-Warner Building, guess that's the way it goes. Somehow
it doesn't make much sense to order a book on-line when it would have been easier to go
to a real, live book store.   

If this had happened before the internet, you would have compromised and bought something similar to what you wanted.  Your story doesn't really have anything to do with the demise of the physical store, it's more of an example of why people prefer shopping online.  You can complain that you don't like shopping online, but you've already been transformed into one that does:

1. Before the internet you would mail order from a local bookstore something well in advance to receive it in time (I used to wait 2 weeks for a book to come in!) You waited until just a few days before you needed it because you knew that you could.  Because you could always order it online with 2nd-day shipping.

2. You showed no flexibility in what you wanted because if you ordered online you wouldn't need to.

I'm just saying that not only do you like ordering online, but you're used to it.  Your post is sounding a little hypocritical. 

Edit: I don't mean this to be an attack just observation.

[Karl Henning]

ALL of them? 

Those what ain't already on the sheff, I perfer as e-books now.

[suzyq]

David W

The only reason I ordered the book on line is because I really had no choice - it was a gift.  I called three bookstores in NYC and ithey didn't have it - only on-line. 

Real bookstores that you can walk into is what I prefer and would have purchased the book in one of them and would have been able to wrap the book taken it with me and been able to give it to my seven year old niece.  Having it sent to her by Amazon did not make me happy.  It is not hypocritical - just no other way.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I think bookstores will become like art-house movie theaters: you'll find them in major cities and college towns, but hardly anywhere else.

There will always be a demand for the experience bookstores provide. But it will have to be enhanced with ancillary services, like book club or author meetings, presentations, cafes and the like.

A world without actual physical bookstores would be a bleak place.