Really.
Of course, Borders and Barnes & Noble drove out the smaller bookstores, though I was never really familiar with the romanticized mom & pop store (except for the local Christian bookstore that shut down some years ago) and only ever new the mall stores like B. Dalton. But it occurs to me that it’s not just new bookstores that have closed down, but that the four used bookstores nearest me a decade ago have all now closed down.
Is it because Half Price books (the Big Box of used bookstores) came to town? (They’re the only ones left around here now.) Are people buying used books online every bit as much as new books? Have e-readers become enough of the bookselling and bookowning landscape that it has impacted the used book market? Has there been some kind of cultural shift that means that people just don’t want used books any longer?
Anyway — I couldn’t find anything when I hunted around online. Any thoughts?
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