Bookshops

Today in good news, the American Booksellers Association announced that membership is at its highest level in 20 years. Per reporting by Hillel Italie at the Associated Press:

We set up our tiny bookshop on a 1920s barge 12 years ago. Though we took turns to describe our grandiose plans for world domination in the early days, we never truly expected anything more than that we would maybe scrape enough - with the help of other work - to keep the thing open and give us days sitting on the towpath talking about books and literature with like-minded people.  Read more

Last October, while Amazon opened its first four-star stores in the UK, more than 500 book and publishing industry professionals gathered for a two-day conference called "Reimagining Bookstores".  Read more

After opening its first bookstore with much fanfare on November 3, 2015, this week Amazon confirmed a report from Reuters that it is closing all of its physical bookstores, as well as its 4-star and pop-up stores, which carry a mix of items, including some books. All told, Amazon will close about 68 stores, including its 24 bookstores.

Readers love bookstores. Even the most devoted library power user, audiobook aficionado, or ebook devotee enjoys wiling time away in the aisles. There's perhaps nothing more romanticized in the bookish world than a secondhand bookstore brimming with stacks of books precariously balanced on every surface. They make for great Instagram pictures - but do they make for a good business model?