The novel resurgence of independent bookstores

[eridani]

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2013/0317/The-novel-resurgence-of-independent-bookstores

Not to worry. Three weeks after superstorm Sandy, on Nov. 16 at 11 a.m., Bank Square Books reopened for business. "We couldn't have done it without the help of our community," says Philbrick. "It was pretty incredible."

That community support is by no means unique to Bank Square Books, and it may be the secret ingredient behind a quiet resurgence of independent bookstores, which were supposed to go the way of the stone tablet – done in first by the national chains, then Amazon, and then e-books.

A funny thing happened on the way to the funeral.

While beloved bookstores still close down every year, sales at independent bookstores overall are rising, established independents are expanding, and new ones are popping up from Brooklyn to Big Stone Gap, Va. Bookstore owners credit the modest increases to everything from the shuttering of Borders to the rise of the "buy local" movement to a get-'er-done outlook among the indies that would shame Larry the Cable Guy. If they have to sell cheesecake or run a summer camp to survive, add it to the to-do list.

"2012 was the year of the bookstore," says Wendy Welch, co-owner of Tales of the Lonesome Pine in Virginia and author of the 2012 memoir "The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap." In her memoir, she recounts how she and her husband, Jack Beck, created – sometimes despite themselves – a successful used-book store in a town that, by any business measure, is too small to support one.

[HiPointDem]

1. i hope.

[Proud Public Servant]

2. I see this in DC

Amazon killed the big box booksellers -- Borders is gone, Barnes & Noble is on the ropes -- but the two indies near me (Kramerbooks and Politics & Prose) are going strong. (I try to help -- I never, ever buy books on Amazon unless I need something in a hurry and Kramer and Politics tell me they can't get it in in time.)

[chimpymustgo]

3. And Busboys and Poets - expanding locations. DC is great.

I live near Silver Spring, and we lost our Borders there - would love to see something come there.

[Proud Public Servant]

6. Busboys and Poets rocks

One of my favorite DC hangouts (we're a 15-20 minute walk from the U St. location), but I confess the book selection is a little too narrow for me to think of them as a bookstore first. Still, awfully glad to have them around, and they are my first stop for lefty social theory or African-American anything.

[HughBeaumont]

4. I thought B&N closed on M street?

I don't remember seeing it there the last couple of times I went. Thankfully, Bridge Street Books is still there, and a far better selection too. Borders on 14th closed long ago. Here in Cleveland's west side, the Borders closed last year and confusing B&N is all we're left with.

DC, like Toronto, says NO to the chains. On Bloor St. alone, there are about four killer indie bookstores within walking distance . . . as it should be.

[Proud Public Servant]

5. There's still a big B&N on E & 12th

But who knows for how long. The B&N in Union Station is closing, too, to be replaced by a clothing store (H&M, iirc).