Reader Friday: Bookstores

What’s the bookstore situation in your neck of the woods? There are reports that indie stores are making a comeback. Is there one near you? Do you, or did you, have a favorite store? What’s your prediction of their future? What would you like it to be? 

17 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Bookstores

  1. My city only has one bookstore. A Coles, which is the baby of the Chapters/Indigo family. The powers that be have decided that books don’t sell so this company, that is the biggest book seller in Canada, has started selling baby stuff. In my store they’ve gotten rid of half of their cooking section and I was told by the store manager that they can’t sell my book because they are getting rid of their local interest section next. So I guess the cities next bookstore is opening in the trunk of my car.

  2. We still have Barnes and Noble. Half Price Bookstore seems to do pretty well. I’m not up on the indie bookstore scene in the Phoenix Metro area but The Poison Pen is still doing well from what little I know of it. I’m sure there are others I’m unaware of.

    But I do my book shopping, new or used, fiction or non-fiction, online.

  3. My small, Northern Ontario city has only one bookstore, a Coles. I go to browse and occasionally buy but oh, what I wouldn’t give to own a bookstore like where my sister lives. Coffee shop attached with homemade pies. Hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles. And floors of books. Magazines. Cute little note books. I’d add a guy strumming a guitar in a corner somewhere but, until I win my millions, I buy on-line.

  4. I’m on the south side of Houston, and in my area there’s still a B&N open, as well as a Half Price Books that’s been around as long as hubby and I have been married (28 yrs.). Our Half Price has even gone pretty upscale, and seems to be thriving. I hope so, because I love shopping there.

    “Up in town,” as we say here in Texas, Houston proper has several more good options. The Brazos Bookstore has been around since 1974 and, according to their website, “acts as a hub for the most creative, intelligent and engaged readers in Houston.” It is indeed a nice bookstore. (Note to self: check to see if Brazos accepts indie authors.)

    My favorite Houston bookstore, though, is Murder by the Book, an all-mystery store. It’s been around since 1980. It sits in a small, nondescript strip center in an old, but nice, part of the city, surrounded by an eclectic assortment of businesses. But when you enter MBTB, you feel you’ve stepped into an old English bookshop, with worn rugs, well-loved wooden bookcases, overstuffed chairs, and at least one cat. This store does great author signings and events.

    I hope what you say is true, that indie stores are making a comeback. I’m not sure I’ll miss B&N when/if it goes, because mine has become more a Nook store that sells books than a bookstore that carries the Nook.

    • Murder By The Book is a very nice store, Diane. I’ve been in there on my trips to Houston, and I’ve supported them by buying books there. Unfortunately, they refuse to carry books by self-pubbed writers. They’re still trapped in the thinking of the past.

  5. Not many good indie choices here in Fort Lauderdale. We have Murder on the Beach about 40 minutes north in Delray and Books and Books is a powerhouse down in Miami. (we have a small version of it in our local art museum). But our B&N is a shadow of its former self, filled with tchotchkes instead of books.

    Now in Northern Michigan where my sister lives, there are thriving indie bookstores, including the great McLean and Eakin in Petoskey, Saturn Books in Gaylord and Horizon Books (Traverse City and others). It seems every little resort town up there has a good little bookstore. I think they survive because they offer a complete “experience” (with readings, childrens programs, events, newsletters) The people who work in these stores are devoted, knowledgeable and friendly. It’s about service and making you feel welcome.

    • Every chance I get I go to Petoskey and Traverse City. Beautiful scenery, great beaches, friendly people, but I’ve never checked out the bookstores. I’ll blame it on the husband but will be sure to search them out this summer, while he’s in the music stores.

  6. A Goodwill bookstore just opened last year and it is located 3 miles from my house. When I first visited on the grand opening, I didn’t think it would be very successful. Books stacked on shelves and it felt like you had to pick up every single book to figure out what kind it was.

    Today, it’s not the same place. I bought 4 books last week and I was in and out the door in less than 30 minutes. Books were separated and categorized by genre and alphabetized by author.

    Total cost (two hardbacks and two paperbacks) = less than $10.00

  7. My favorite bookstore in my neck of the woods — Westerville, Ohio — is the venerable Foul Play Books. We also have what seems to be more than our fair share of Barnes & Noble (I don’t see that as a bad thing) and a number of Half-Price Book outlets (ditto).

  8. I live in a little niche of the beautiful Ozarks where there are no close bookstores, but we do have a lot of cows, hayfields, and tornadoes. (…But I digress.)

    About 20 miles away is Barnes and Noble. A major bookstore chain went the way of the dinosaur a few years ago, but I’m hopeful that we’ll see a new crop of lovelies pop up just like the one Amanda (above) described–complete with out-of-the-way deelish treats and quirky, off-beat readers and writers…

  9. Tangently related, I have a former student who bought a Games and Hobbies shop a few years ago. He is now in the process of liquidating the store after 9 months of trying to find someone to buy it. It simply cannot make a profit.

    Part of that is that he would have people come into the store, look at the newest edition of Dungeons and Dragons and then take out their phones to order the book off Amazon at a discount with free shipping. All they had to do was wait a few days to get it.

    Locally we have a used book store, a couple of small mom-pop stores I JUST found out about yesterday, and 2 BN’s within 20 miles of my house. Mostly we’re down to “if you want a book, go to Amazon”.

    Kinda sucks…

  10. Ditto what PJ Parrish said about Fort Lauderdale. A more thriving place in Davie is a used bookstore, Second Edition Books. They offer events like sidewalk sales and attract people by giving readers a sense of community. For new books, I shop on Amazon. Barnes and Noble just holds no appeal anymore. Too many toys and games.

  11. Unfortunately I’ve sold my soul as an internet book-slut. My kindle or my iPods hold my life. I never thought I would ever replace the book in hand and the feel of the pages for something electronic, but fighting with a reading light while my husband slept, took a backseat when I realized my iPod wouldn’t need a light. Fifty Shades of Grey you were my first into a much larger world. The ebook world! Sheesh. ๐Ÿ™‚

  12. Alaska has two B&N stores in the whole state, one in Anchorage, one in Fairbanks. Those are the only two big chain book stores up here. We do have a few good private new and used bookstores the biggest, and most popular, of which is Title Wave Books which has two locations in Anchorage.

    There are also a couple comic book stores, and a handful of Christian bookstores as well. One store my wife uses a lot Chickabiddy Books specializes in educational material and children’s books for homeschoolers, my kids get a lot of their reading material in there.

  13. The Peregrine Book Company opened just before the holidays in my town. They are wonderful folks and have a good selection and variety. The owners managed Changing Hands down in Tempe over 25 years ago and is the oldest independent bookstore in Arizona.

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