Not quite dead yet

Here -- he says he's not dead!

Yes he is.

I'm not!

He isn't.

Well, he will be soon. He's very ill.

I'm getting better!

No, you're not -- you'll be stone dead in a moment.

First, that's one hell of a piece of jewelry on Jane Fonda. Distracting. /coveting

Next, the specific uptick in brick and mortar stores may be just a teeny bubble that will burst as soon as the commercial real estate market turns around and landlords can hook higher paying tenants. I personally wouldn't count two years of more shops for indie booksellers as indicative of a trend.

More important to me is the wobbling of the mega book-chains. As in many areas of business, if these big dinosaurs would just die off already, it would open the field for little mammals now struggling in their shadows. My fingers are crossed.

Like I always say, the little mammals who include killer hangout coffee shops in their bookstore burrows will survive and thrive.

Amen.

One of my long-time dreams has been to run a place like Gotham Books in NYC - books on the ground floor, art gallery on the second floor, coffee somewhere.

Strangely, being one of the over-worked and underpaid managers of a cookie-cutter mega-chain where I carry all the responsibility but have none of the control was never one of my dreams.

Ah, well, we can but hope the monsters are toppling.

Phaeal said:

Like I always say, the little mammals who include killer hangout coffee shops in their bookstore burrows will survive and thrive.

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Seriously. Book stores and coffee are like peanut butter and bananas all fried up and being eaten by Elvis. Delicious and hip.

I was having this argument yesterday.

Friend: I can go home and order it of Amazon and get it cheaper.

Me: Yeah, or you could spend the extra two pound and start reading it today.

If the option is either convience or in my hands at the point of sale, I choose the later. What is so frickin' convienent about having to wait three days for a book?

I love having online shopping to give me access to sellers I can't get to for books that are hard to find.

But I love the experience of being in a bookstore, browsing the shelves, and walking out with new (to me) books in hand a lot more.

The big chains are so bland, ugly, and a bunch of other things I don't like about shopping (and I have the same complaint about other kinds of stores, too), they just don't give me that pleasant experience anymore. I prefer those independent, sometimes quirky shops that are run by people who like books.

muravyets said:

The big chains are so bland, ugly, and a bunch of other things I don't like about shopping (and I have the same complaint about other kinds of stores, too), they just don't give me that pleasant experience anymore. I prefer those independent, sometimes quirky shops that are run by people who like books.

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I wish I had the option of choosing between Waterstone's and an indie. As it is, Waterstone's is our only bookshop in Stirling.

I can't wait for September when I'm going to London. Already planning the itinerary: Foyles, Daunt . . .

gothicangel said:

Friend: I can go home and order it of Amazon and get it cheaper.

Me: Yeah, or you could spend the extra two pound and start reading it today.

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I order a lot of my books from Amazon early, and they arrive at my house on publishing day.

There is a local bookstore I frequent, and she often doesn't have the selection of Amazon, either. However, I still order my paperback and out-of-print books from her to help keep her in the black.

This thread reminds me of my favorite rock album title: Rock and Rock is dead, but it won't lie down.

nathanrudy said:

I order a lot of my books from Amazon early, and they arrive at my house on publishing day.

There is a local bookstore I frequent, and she often doesn't have the selection of Amazon, either. However, I still order my paperback and out-of-print books from her to help keep her in the black.

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I tend to use Amazon more for DVDs I desperately want [usually to get them imported from the US] or books that are difficult to get from the highstreet.

I tried doing the pre-order on a title a few years ago. DHL were atrocious, I ended up buying the book from Waterstone's and returning the pre-order when it finally turned up.

muravyets said:

I love having online shopping to give me access to sellers I can't get to for books that are hard to find.

But I love the experience of being in a bookstore, browsing the shelves, and walking out with new (to me) books in hand a lot more.

The big chains are so bland, ugly, and a bunch of other things I don't like about shopping (and I have the same complaint about other kinds of stores, too), they just don't give me that pleasant experience anymore. I prefer those independent, sometimes quirky shops that are run by people who like books.

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I agree with you completely, but I order a lot online because of the availability and price.

I also love Barnes and Noble for their bargain priced hard-backs.

We don't have any independent stores around here anyway.

Stupid Northern VA.

I recently went to Oregon and found my heaven: Powell's bookstore.

If we had a Powell's in the UK, I'd practically live there.

As it stands, it's either Waterstones or Amazon.

I figure if the comic book stores can hold on by selling more manga, some anime, collectible card games, etc. then maybe the indie bookstores can stay alive, too. Especially in urban areas, I think some can survive. Probably tougher in a small town just because of the smaller market.

crunchyblanket said:

I recently went to Oregon and found my heaven: Powell's bookstore.

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Oh yes. It's about a 20 minute drive, or 45 minutes on the light-rail, from me. I'd like to live within walking distance, but that would be disastrous on my bank account.

Wonderful, wonderful place. But even they had to lay off many employees recently.

"The 39-year-old retailer that's become a tourist attraction for book lovers around the world has been rattled by "the unprecedented, rapidly changing nature of the book industry," along with the economy, new book sales declines and rising health care costs."

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2011/02/union_provides_details_on_powe.html