“Mom & Pop’s” will return if they have a Starbucks, big comfy easy chairs for stinky libs to lounge around in all day and if they hide Glenn Beck books for liberal tripe like “Why Daddy is a Democrat” and “Why Momma voted For Obama”. Then yes, they’ll come back.
Well....get ready for “You’ve Got Mail II “.
They will be back when livery stables and ice locker plants return. Look for them over by the record store.
I order a lot of used paperbacks from them all of the time.
The brick and mortar book store is over. Samething with Video Rental stores. I think you should put your money on tattoo and body piercing. That will never go out of style.
I do occasionally visit Half Price Books in search of a bargain; but that's about all.
If you POINT them to quality and deliver something “the others ain't got”, then you can survive.
That may be bringing more authors through on book tours. That may be offering USED as well as new merchandise.
If you think you can compete on price and selection, Amazon.com will eat your lunch because they just “list” the full Books In Print catalog so they list things “they think they can get” and offer deep enough discount pricing that you probably won't beat them there.
So you need “impulse” purchasing (this book is so interesting, I have to buy it now) and dependable “evergreen” books that will always sell (won't go out of date but someone who's never seen it before or is looking for a gift will buy a copy).
Having a guest in the store associated with the book also leads to a “buy it now” mentality and offers something that the online retailers don't.
But Barnes & Noble, Borders, Bookstop, et al BORE me. They all offer the same 120 books in any category I frequent. There will be books that I know are out there that they never stock. I won't “special order” a copy because I can do it my self, online, faster, and cheaper. I want to “look and feel” and then buy a copy.
Also so many publishers/distributors are dumping books on the market at reduced pricing sometimes 6 months after they come out. I don't like getting burned paying full price for something I can buy new at Half Price Books 6-9 months later.
Find a niche and market to it. Having some out of print and discount titles also keeps you competitive.
I like browsing in cool bookstores. I would patronize an independent bookstore if it was nearby and tried to earn my business.
The children’s bookstore near me went out of business because the owner cared more about dog agility competitions than making sales. The more pictures of her dog went up, the more the store went down. I bought the books I liked, told her I wanted more of the same type, and they never appeared.
The Catholic bookstore near me went out of business, too. It was merchandised like a boring, cold, gray 1970’s store. Not fun. They should have had readings, talks, book signings and musical events. I wanted to like it, but it was just hopelessly dorky.
I like the idea of independent bookstores, but success isn’t just going to fall into their laps.
Half-Price Books rocks!
Schulers opened a location in the mall a few months before I quit. The opening of a competitor didn't have a big impact on our sales. What had a huge--and disasterous--effect on our sales was the company's decision to "rework" the frequent shopper program, changing it from a user-friendly program which strongly encouraged repeat sales to a pricey mess with almost no benefit to the consumer.
I was at the mall for the first time in years just recently. The store is gone. So there's that. I'm not trying to draw any parallels; I left Waldenbooks in 1997, so I'm in no position to try to reason why that one particular (once successful) store failed. For all I know, the chain no longer exists.
I'll say this, though: I am a voracious reader, as are all five members of my family, and we frequently shop at the B&N near our house. Good prices, good selection, excellent customer service. Several times a year I will special order movies and cds from the store. I've never made use of their little cafe because, as a former waitress, I don't do frou frou java. But I have noticed that all the tables in the cafe are generally full, so a need appears to be filled.
Once every couple of years (say five or six) I will stop in at the used bookstores on the MSU campus, just to remind myself why I don't offer them my patronage on a regular basis. Prices as high as B&N, hit or miss selection, and some of the snottiest sales staff I have ever encountered...what's not to love? No, thanks.
I don't think these particular shops are true "mom and pops"--they are more along the lines of campus fixtures, surviving because each fall a new crop of blossoming scholastic intelligentsia arrive on campus, armed with Mommy's plastic, itching to prove how deep they are by spending a stupid amount of money on a tattered copy of The Naked and the Dead. I mean, really. They'll never open the book (one hopes). It'll look ubercool on their bookshelf, though. In secret they'll continue to reread the Harry Potter series and those vampire books that are so popular now.
Books they probably got at B&N!
I would like for them to survive. I have another 18 years until retirement.
My favorite brick and mortar bookstore.
http://stevensbooks.com/
I also shop Amazon and occasionally go in Barnes and Noble at the mall usually when my husband is in Joseph A. Bank.