The experience of an American bookstore
Monday, October 29th, 2007Those who go to America’s chain bookshops know about the experience they offer. Large stacks of books free to be read without making a purchase. Rows and rows of CDs free to be listened to without buying them. Heaps of toys that children can play without procuring. Magazines from around the world that can be glanced for free. It shows capitalism at its best.
American bookstores are reading rooms where people can read for hours sitting on plush sofa viewing the city lights while sipping coffee (which is the only thing that has to be bought if needed). Regular lending libraries may close at 5 or 6, but America’s bookstores are open well into 11:00 pm. But arrival of large chains has caused considerable resentment to bibliophiles. Independent bookstores are upset and up in arms. ‘Large bookstores don’t care about nurturing the reading habit, but just about maintaining corporate profits’. ‘They don’t keep rare, discontinued or serious books.’ ‘They kill independent stores through predatory practices.’ These are some of the oft-heard criticisms.
Bookstores themselves are not thriving: both the large stores made a one–time loss in the last financial quarter. There is serious competition from online retailers. They are reducing some of the free services I mentioned above. Now, newspapers have to be purchased before reading in the Borders store I go to in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Barnes and Noble of the same city has reduced the number of sofas for lounging.
Still American book stores are a great experience for the casual reader that is not found so easily in other countries. In a country not known for its book-buying habit, the book stores has shown how the habit can be encouraged with clever salesmanship
