Aug 19 2008
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“ Students today, they use the Internet. They read their textbooks,” Ross said. “In the ’70s, they had wide-ranging intellect.
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Quite a sad, and interesting story of a local bookshop closure.
How to compete in this world of digitisation? Taking a look at the photos, it’s clear there’s a major emotional pull to the place; perhaps coffee and magazines, to augment the books would have helped it survive?
Good, curated bookstores just don’t seem to be attracting the ‘foot traffic’ these days…even mainstream stores, like my local Borders, has a really busy Starbucks, but dead book selling aisles…
Of course, the irony is that the £6 or so on a coffee and cake could buy a book that would delight, entertain and inform and last for weeks, compared to the ephemeral pleasures of a skinny latte and carrot cake slice.
