Can brick-and-mortar bookstores be saved?

No one ever seems to ask the book chains what they are going to do when e-books take away a large chunk of their business. If you doubt that will happen, try the Amazon Kindle where you can have a new book installed in your reader within 30 seconds 24 hours a day. Talk about instant gratification.

As a writer and publisher, I feel I can state with confidence that there will always be bookstores, it's simply that, right now, we probably have too many. Where my parents live there are Five Barnes and Nobles and three Borders within five miles. There are also five used bookstores, and two independent bookstores; and this is the suburbs! Inner city life almost demands that a neighborhood have a bookstore--it's a 28 billion dollar a year business...and growing. The feel, the smell, the intimacy, the convenience of carryng a book in your briefcase side pocket...just like there will always be print-articles covering the news, they'll always be hard back and paper back books. Remember when the independent coffee shops were all dropping like flies? Well, while many failed, there are still lots around. One thing is for certain: most of these small entrepreneurs will never get rich. Owning them is indeed a labor of love. But so what? So is writing. And besides, I'm always shocked by the amount of people in bookstores at all hours of the day. There's just too many of them (bookstores), with shareholders and high overhead, for all of them stay in business.

We live in a small city in Los Angeles County, and within the city limits we have NO bookstore. We used to have 3 large stores but the rents went so high when people from other countries moved here with suitcases filled with cash, bought the properties and raised the rents. As a result, we have lots of repetitive clothing stores but no bookstore. We did have one for a couple of years but could not cover the rent and earn any money. I would be willing to invest in an independent bookstore because I feel it is an asset for a small community. The one that closed still has another store in another part of the city and seems to be doing well. Book reviews are offered, book signings, etc. are provided for the public and bring people into the store. You cannot substitute personal service for an order desk at Amazon. I pay extra for a book to keep that store in business. I rarely leave that store with just the one book I intended to purchase. Browsing, thumbing through books that are displayed, related gift items i.e. stationery, greeting cards, etc. catch my attention. I love book stores, particularly the ones with irregular aisles, books squeezed together, and sometimes haphazard arrangements. What an adventure!

Brick and mortar stores have something that the web does not offer: atmosphere and the possibility of human encounters.

Jack S. is right on. Even the Wall Street Journal article reveals customers stepped up to save stores. When you can buy the same thing everywhere, what happens in the store is critical. It's also the reason why we likely will see more exclusive offers and products directed to specific customers. At least that's what Retail Forward sees and what's talked about at National Retail Federation gatherins. People are looking for places to be human, to be special.

Brick and mortar bookstores can survive and it's summed up in two words: INSTANT GRATIFICATION. Lots of consumers don't want to wait to get a book in the mail. They also like browsing the shelves for a good read.

That doesn't mean survival will be simple. There are huge carrying costs associated with the inventory at a brick and mortar store and there are lots of competitive forces that come into play.

But there is definitely still a place for these stores if they can figure it all out.

(Great post, Zac.)

I don't think the bookstores can remain competitive. People can buy their books online cheaper or ,even better, go to the library and read the book for free. Rents are too high to make selling books profitable.

Join Borders Rewards and you get 25 and 30% off coupons emailed to you every other week. That almost always offsets the Amazon discount. Then you're only paying a couple dollars "instant gratification tax".

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