My local, independent book store is going strong. Who needs another big chain? Support independents!
Okay, I’ll support the independent bookstores in my town.
Let me know when someone decides to open one because right now my option is Books-A-Million.
Have you checked bookshop.org? You can still buy online and have the order fulfilled by your nearest independent book store.
Seriously my city has three bookstores a Barnes and Nobles a half price books and one specialty store downtown that I think sells horror books but I’m not positive because they’re never open
Who needs another big chain?
For the same reason we want locally owned hardware stores as well as Home Depot - the selection. The big chains can afford larger real estate and book sections as large as some book stores. Especially for technical and reference books. Sure, you could buy that stuff online but I’d rather shop in person. Sometimes I need something now and sometimes I don’t know what I need until I’m walking past it. I love the curation and personality of small stores but there’s still a reasonable argument for big chains. I would love to see some sort of beneficial collaboration between chains and indie shops across all industries.