Like...Border's Bookstore is going bankrupt and closing stores across the country. The NPR story looked at poor management, as well as too much bookshelf space, and two such causes. Other causes are the increase of online book sales and the creation of The Kindle and other e-book devices.
The argument that Border's had too much book shelf space and not enough books being purchased led me to ask myself...did the big box bookstore essentially create its own demise upon its own inception? Walk into any Border's or Barnes and Noble and there are shelves and shelves of books. Do these books move from the shelves, or just sit there for months, get reshuffled and then put on discounted book racks?
I would argue that big box did kill the bookstore. What if small mom and pop bookshops still existed and thrived? Those that had smaller inventory but exactly what the reader was looking for. Those that gave away free coffee and had overstuffed chairs in nooks and crannies for kids and adults alike; that had the clerk who knew each customer and placed special orders meticulously every day in order to receive the order in the next shipment. I would argue that these mom and pop shops could exist alongside online book sales and e-books simply becuase they are smaller and don't house so much wasted inventory. Sure, there are independent bookstores like Tattered Cover in Denver and Highlands Ranch and Powell's in Portland that are large stores, but they are also landmarks in their neighborhoods. They have that feeling of a community of book lovers so often the large big box stores can't quite capture.
I will end my rant with this quote by Jerry Seinfeld:
A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking. So I guess I would argue for the existence of a bookstore, any bookstore, than none at all.
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