Are independent book stores still viable today as bricks-and-mortar businesses?
As a lover of books, I have to lament the passing of so many independent books stores. Indies are cute, quirky, and often carry hard-to-find books. You can go into one of those stores and suddenly you are an adventurer looking for treasure amongst those stacks. They do not have a coffee bar. They do not have armchairs where scary looking old men can sit for hours and eye you predatorily as you make your way around them. They do not have idiot sales people who look like they’ve never picked up a book in their lives. They do not try to sell you everything else under the sun, like CDs, DVDs, Drinks, Food, Wrapping Paper, Board Games, Stationery, Stuffed Animals, Boxes of Chocolate, etc etc etc. They sell you books. They know you love them, otherwise you wouldn’t be in there. And they love books too. And so do the other customers you encounter. It’s like a little club. All you have to do to join is be intelligent enough to enjoy reading. How great is that! Sadly, the negative aspect of the
