Small Market Bookstores Leave Readers Out in the Cold
I live in a small town, and gladly so, but there are some times when I've got to wonder.
There are two bookstores within a 30 minute drive of my house. One is The Book Tree, a small used book store where I like to browse and buy SF and out of print books. The other is a Borders Express at the local mall. After yesterday, I'll probably never go back to the Borders Express.
I keep a small wish list of books. Some are specific titles I want. Some are categories of books that I want. Yesterday I went to Borders to get a book on mind mapping. There were two clerks working. One didn't have a clue about what mind mapping is. That's okay. Until last year I didn't either. The other knew what it was and was able to immediately tell me they had nothing in stock, and offered look up the listings in their catalog to see what they could order for me. I was impressed by the service until she came back and told me they had one, yes one, book on mind mapping in their catalog.
Thanks, but no thanks.
I spent about half an hour in the store looking for some of the other books on my list. There were lots of For Dummies... books. Several Visual Quick Starts, five feet of floor to top of the rack shelf space devoted to Chicken Soup in various flavors, but the actual number of titles was probably half of what it was just a few years ago. Entire categories of books are no longer stocked, including most books that have to do with non-Christian spirituality and philosophy. Self-help books abound, but not much of the type that appeals to me.
I understand that mall space is expensive, and you want to stock books that have a good chance of selling. But... when the majority of your stock is limited to basically introductory type books and your catalog is also limited, you leave the people who actually buy the most books without a local source. Where are they going to go if they have to drive for half an hour to get to a decent bookstore? Online. Is it any wonder that places like Amazon are taking over the book market?
[tags]reading, books, marketing, culture[/tags]
When I was starting out as a freelancer about 15 years ago, I worked part time as a bookseller. Since I'm a bibliophile, I knew a lot about what we had, but made sure I even knew a little about the books I had no interest in, like Romances. (Which was good, since I was in South Florida and lots of little old ladies read Romances).
I'm surprised how clueless the folks working as the local B&N are. Not all of them, but some.
Though I still like just going and roaming around a brink and mortar bookstore, I have to admit, I rarely buy there. I buy most of my books through Amazon, and have almost since they opened.
Hi Tony,
Whatever you're doing, you care about your work and want to be good at it, something that is increasingly rare. The first employee may have been new, or may never have been asked the question. I don't know.
I love a good bookstore. I'm a bibliophile, too. I like going to a full size B&N. When I lived in Tampa, there were two privately owned bookstores I frequented. One was a metaphysical book store. The other was called Haslam's, and carried a wonderful selection of new, used, and out of print books.
I don't bemoan the lack of independent bookstores. People vote with their dollars, and over the years have expressed a preference for chain stores, leading to the demise of many independent stores.
The thing that bothers me is the decreasing selection in the small-market chain bookstore, even in the catalog they can order from. The chains almost seems intent on driving knowledgable readers away.