Independent bookstore

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An independent bookshop in Stoke Newington, London Stoke Newington Bookshop, London.jpg
An independent bookshop in Stoke Newington, London

An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. [1] Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store (although there are some multi-store independents). They may be structured as sole proprietorships, closely held corporations or partnerships, cooperatives, or nonprofits. Independent stores can be contrasted with chain bookstores, which have many locations and are owned by corporations which often have divisions in other lines besides bookselling. Specialty stores such as comic book shops tend to be independent.

Contents

City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, 2010 City Lights Bookstore.jpg
City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, 2010
Shakespeare and Company in Paris 2004 Shakespeare and Company store in Paris.jpg
Shakespeare and Company in Paris 2004

Author events at independent bookstores sometimes take the role of literary salons [2] and independents historically supported new authors and independent presses. [3]

U.S. decline and renaissance

For most of the 20th century, almost all bookstores in the United States were independent. In the 1950s, automobiles and suburban shopping malls became more common. Mall-based bookstore chains began in the 1960s, and underwent a major number expansion in the 1970s and 1980s, especially B. Dalton and Waldenbooks. Big-box stores also expanded during this period, including Barnes & Noble (which also acquired Texas chain Bookstop), Borders, and Crown Books. Amazon was founded during the dot-com boom in 1994 and exclusively sold books until 1998.

By the 1990s, these competitive pressures had put independent bookstores under considerable financial pressure [4] [5] and many closed due to their inability to compete. [6] Closures in the United States include Kroch's and Brentano's (1995) in Chicago, Gotham Book Mart (2006) in New York, Cody's Books (2008) in Berkeley, Kepler's Books (2005) in Menlo Park, Printers Inc. Bookstore (2001) in Palo Alto, [7] [8] [9] [10] A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books (2006) in San Francisco, [11] Midnight Special Bookstore (2004) in Santa Monica, [12] Dutton's Books (2008) in Los Angeles, [13] Coliseum Books (2007) in New York City, and Wordsworth Books (2004) in Cambridge. [14] The number of independent booksellers in the United States dropped 40% from 1995 to 2000. [15]

In the 2000s, e-books started to take market share away from printed books, either published directly via the World Wide Web, or read on e-ink devices such as the Amazon Kindle, introduced in 2007. Amazon continued to gain significant market share, and these competitive pressures resulted in a collapse of the chain stores in the 2010s. [15] Crown closed in 2001; Borders, B. Dalton, and Waldenbooks were liquidated in 2010-11. A smaller Barnes & Noble, with its Nook e-reader was left as the only nation-wide chain, with the second-largest Books-A-Million operating in only 32 states. This collapse created an opening for the return of more independent shops. [15]

According to the American Booksellers Association, the number of independent U.S. bookstores increased 35%, from 1,651 in 2009 to 2,227 in 2015. A Harvard Business School study by professor Ryan Raffaelli attributed this increase to the buy local movement and success in curation of interesting titles and hosting book-oriented community events. [16] The market has bifurcated between consumers looking for a highly interactive experience at local stores. Consumers looking for low-cost, high-selection stores where large chains compete with difficulty against online sales. [15]

In 2023 it was announced that about 17 businesses Vermont will donate their sales to help Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, Vermont and Next Chapter Bookstore in Barre. They include Bennington Bookshop, Bennington, The Book Nook, Ludlow, Norwich Bookstore, Norwich, Vermont Book Shop, Middlebury, and Rootstock Publishing, Montpelier. [17]

Portrayal in film

Two documentary films, Indies Under Fire (2006) and Paperback Dreams (2008), explore the difficulties faced by U.S. independent bookstores in the new economy.[ citation needed ]

The competition between chain and independent retailers was fictionalized in the 1998 film You've Got Mail .[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigo Books and Music</span> Canadian book and gift retailer

Indigo Books & Music Inc., known as "Indigo" and stylized "!ndigo", is Canada's only major English-language bookstore chain. It is Canada's largest book, gift, and specialty toy retailer, operating stores in all ten provinces and one territory, and through a website offering a selection of books, toys, home décor, stationery, and gifts. Most Chapters and Indigo stores include a Starbucks café inside. As of 2022, Indigo has started selling music, and select audio equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borders Group</span> American book retailer, 1971 to 2011

Borders Group, Inc. was an American multinational book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. In its final year, the company employed about 19,500 people throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders and Waldenbooks stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnes & Noble</span> American bookseller and retailer

Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across all 50 U.S. states.

Waterstones Booksellers Limited, trading as Waterstones, is a British book retailer that operates 311 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and also other nearby countries. As of February 2014, it employs around 3,500 staff in the UK and Europe. An average-sized Waterstones shop sells a range of approximately 30,000 individual books, as well as stationery and other related products.

The American Booksellers Association (ABA) is a non-profit trade association founded in 1900 that promotes independent bookstores in the United States. ABA's core members are key participants in their communities' local economy and culture, and to assist them ABA creates relevant programs; provides education, information, business products, and services; and engages in public policy and industry advocacy. The Association actively supports and defends free speech and the First Amendment rights of all Americans, without contradiction of equity and inclusion, through the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. A volunteer board of 10 booksellers governs the Association. Previously headquartered in White Plains, New York, ABA became a fully remote organization in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coles (bookstore)</span> Canadian bookstore chain

Coles is a Canadian bookstore chain owned by Indigo Books and Music. Coles is Indigo's brand for small-scale bookstores in locations such as shopping malls. Some locations are operated as SmithBooks, and the company has recently begun to open selected small-format locations as "IndigoSpirit".

Waldenbooks was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., and from 1995 was a subsidiary of Borders Group. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware, as well as a children's educational toy chain under Walden Kids. In 2011, the chain was liquidated in bankruptcy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bookstore tourism</span> Cultural tourism

Bookstore tourism is a type of cultural tourism that promotes independent bookstores as a group travel destination. It started as a grassroots effort to support locally owned and operated bookshops, many of which have struggled to compete with large bookstore chains and online retailers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Printers Inc. Bookstore</span>

Printers Inc. Bookstore (1978–2001) was an independent bookstore in Palo Alto and Mountain View, California, that closed in 2001. Printers Inc is referenced in sonnets 8.13-8.16 of Vikram Seth's 1986 novel, The Golden Gate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bookselling</span> Business of selling and dealing with books

Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brentano's</span> American bookstore chain

Brentano's was an American bookstore chain with numerous locations in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B. Dalton</span> American retail bookstore chain

B. Dalton Bookseller was an American retail bookstore chain founded in 1966 by Bruce Dayton, a member of the same family that operated the Dayton's department store chain. B. Dalton expanded to become the largest retailer of hardcover books in the United States, with 779 stores at the peak of the chain's success. Located mainly at indoor shopping malls, B. Dalton competed primarily with Waldenbooks. Barnes & Noble acquired the chain from Dayton's in 1987 and continued to operate it until a late 2009 announcement that the last 50 stores would be liquidated by January 2010. B. Dalton was later revived by rebranding a Barnes & Noble location in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kroch's and Brentano's</span> American bookstore/bookstore chain

Kroch's and Brentano's was the largest bookstore in Chicago, and at one time it was the largest privately owned bookstore chain in the United States. The store and the chain were formed in 1954 through the merger of the separate Kroch's bookstore with the former Chicago branch of the New York-based Brentano's bookstore. The chain was closed in 1995 after suffering financial losses from increased competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cody's Books</span> Bookstore based in Berkeley, California, US

Cody's Books (1956–2008) was an independent bookstore based in Berkeley, California. It "was a pioneer in bookselling, bringing the paperback revolution to Berkeley, fighting censorship, and providing a safe harbor from tear gas directed at anti-Vietnam War protesters throughout the 1960s and 1970s."

Borders (UK) Ltd., also known as Borders & Books etc., was established as a Borders Group subsidiary in 1998, and in 2007 became independent of the US parent company. At its peak after separation from the US parent, it traded from its 41 Borders and 28 BOOKS etc. shops with over one million square feet of retail space, taking around 8% of the retail bookselling market. In 2008 and 2009 the store numbers were reduced before the collapse of the chain. They also operated one single branch in Ireland, but closed this early in 2009. On 26 November 2009 it was announced that Borders (UK) had gone into administration. All stores closed on 24 December 2009.

Carl and Jack Cole, born Carl Kolofsky and Isadore Kolofsky, were American brothers who created the successful bookstore chain Coles as well as the world-famous publication Coles Notes. Carl and Jack made Coles the largest bookstore chain in Canada in the mid- to late-20th century.

Shelf Awareness is an American publishing company that produces two electronic publications/newsletters focused on bookselling, books and book reviews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of bookselling</span>

The selling of books dates back to ancient times. The founding of libraries in c.300 BC stimulated the energies of the Athenian booksellers. In Rome, toward the end of the republic, it became the fashion to have a library, and Roman booksellers carried on a flourishing trade.

References

  1. "American Booksellers Association". Bookweb.org. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  2. Bookstores are bestsellers – independent bookseller Chapters: A Literary Bookstore is successful – includes related article on starting a bookstore
  3. "North Carolina authors support independent bookstore". Chathamjournal.com. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  4. "Smaller Bookstores End Court Struggle Against Two Chains". New York Times. April 20, 2001. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  5. "Light in Oxford: How the vision of one independent bookseller has revitalized the heart of Faulkner's Mississippi". Motherjones.com. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  6. Babwin, Don (October 9, 2006). "Independent bookstores fighting chains, Internet to stay open". USA Today. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  7. Time Running Out For Printers Inc.
  8. Palo Alto Printers Inc. to close
  9. MOUNTAIN VIEW / Books Inc. takes over Printers Inc. location
  10. Saving a bookstore
  11. "Clean Well-Lighted Place dimming its lights for good". San Francisco Chronicle. July 19, 2006. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  12. LAVoice.org (May 7, 2004). "Great Loss – Midnight Special Bookstore to Close for Good". Lavoice.org. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  13. "Dutton's bids loyal customers farewell". Los Angeles Times. March 31, 2008. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  14. "Closing store has them at loss for words". Boston Globe . December 1, 2004. Retrieved November 28, 2011.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Why The Number Of Independent Bookstores Increased During The 'Retail Apocalypse'
  16. Bookstores escape from jaws of irrelevance
  17. Kang, Alice (2023-07-25). "Bookstores helping bookstores impacted by historic floods". WPTZ. Retrieved 2023-07-28.