Reply #9: I have a...

[GTurck]

strong feeling that smaller independent stores will now have a chance to come back.
I like the ambiance at the Barnes & Noble (We have a Hastings and a very small Borders in the Mall) but often have been frustrated by the experience too. They carry all the "Christian" and right-wing best-sellers but not the more interesting and obscure books or those that are more liberal. Marketing, you know.
Sixty miles from us is "Book People" in Austin but that is a long trip for a couple of dodgers just to scan the shelves for a couple of hours. They have the ambience and all the other amenities though.
Our Army town has a quite varied population but our book stores must provide for the sort of people who only read the latest blockbuster novel or the loudest conservative screed because they move the fastest. Those of us with wider and liberal tastes are left to spin in the wind. For instance 20 of Glenn Beck's latest but not one of Thom Hartmann's.
Smaller stores could more easily niche market and make a profit.