At the risk of "preaching to the converted," I urge readers to spend their money at independent bookstores rather than at the large chains or online vendors. Some of the many reasons to do so are as follows:
1. Local, independent bookstores are more individualized, often more specialized. They are attuned to their local customers and their locales. They do their own buying, rather than having a national office make decisions for the whole country.
2. Booksellers at independent bookstores are usually more knowledgeable about books.
3. Independent bookstores often have great readings and classes. It is true that some chains do as well, but the local bookstores can focus on local authors and cater to local interests.
4. Independent bookstores are more community-oriented. They often have programs that benefit local schools and other community institutions.
5. Statistics show that a much higher percentage of profits of independent bookstores goes back into the local community; profits don't go to the national corporate offices as they do with the chains.
6. Chains are often predatory, moving in very nearby to existing independent bookstores, undercutting the prices of those bookstores (because they have the corporate resources to do so), driving them out, and then sometimes raising prices again. (I have seen this happen in the area where I live; a few years back we lost the beloved A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books, here in Marin County, this way.)
Independent bookstores have been closing at a disturbingly high rate. If we lose these stores, we will have lost something essential and irreplaceable. Then all we will have left is the cookie cutter chain experience.
I would like to end by recognizing some of my favorite local, independent bookstores in the San Francisco Bay Area: Green Apple, on Clement Street in SF; Book Passage, in Corte Madera; and Books, Inc., on California Street in SF. I treasure these wonderful bookstores; long may they live!
What are your favorite independent bookstores?
Thursday, February 11, 2010
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