Last week I visited a very new bookstore called The Book Bar. It carries a combination of both new and used books and is quite ambitious, running story hours and a writers' group and opening at 7 AM on weekdays so that people can stop on their way to work to get their coffee at the store's cafe. (Seriously, that's a brilliant move. Caffeine seems to be quite a serious addiction, and it's legal.)
I was wondering if this particular store would get foot traffic and if it can succeed in these hard times and all the usual stuff. Then a day or two later I heard that Barnes & Noble is for sale, which is suppose to be an indication of trouble in big box bookstore land. There's been talk of problems for Borders for a couple of years now.
If the big chain bookstores shrink up or even disappear, perhaps independents like The Book Bar will be in a stronger position--the only places to go for those people who still want to look a book over before buying it.
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