Don't bother going to their former www.bookstore.com web address -- they sold it to raise cash, and the address now yields a generic linkfarm page.
Though the owner claims "declining foot traffic" as one reason business is down, the store, located in an ugly condo-retail development in a great location: near Civic Center and just a couple blocks up from the Opera House, the symphony hall and Herbst Auditorium, the latter a large hall where famous authors often appear in the City Arts and Lectures series. There's also a cinema and a popular before- and after-theater restaurant in the complex. So I tend to doubt the "low foot traffic" complaint. Face it, I think people are just buying fewer books. And why not -- they're increasingly expensive, and while a lot of great quality is out there, it's increasingly surrounded by crap.
I think it's all right that people are buying fewer books. Overall fewer books deserve, perhaps, to be bought. While terrific books like the intimidatingly large "Europe Central" sit quietly on the shelves, consumers are cramming their bags with cheesy thrillers and Y.A. pablum. (No, not all thrillers or Y.A. books are crap, but so many of them are.) But from a retailer's point of view, they'd rather sell three $14.95 Y.A. books than one $30 copy of "Europe Central."
What if... Courtesy Mediabistro, this story which includes a prediction from Microsoft's CEO that:
in 10 years, Americans would read most of their books and periodicals on a digital screen. So far, the technology industry hasn't made a digital screen that is as good as paper, he said. That will change.Maybe so, maybe not. But I shudder at the notion that bookstores will become more like, say, Best Buy.
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