Another bookstore bites the dust?

[If_I_Loved_you]

I was down in Gainesville Florida and I saw that the Book Lover's Vegan Cafe at NW 13th St at NW 5th Ave was Closed It seems the couple both getting old said We got tired," Haisley said. "We're old. By January, Phil will be 78, and I will be 72, and it is a long time to work every day." It wasn't too long ago that Tappin Book*Mine closed. And Wolf's Head Books Inc in St Augustine Florida Closed via Facebook on August 1st 2012. These are sad days for the small independent bookstores I blame Amazon and the Internet.

[If_I_Loved_you]

Look at what Amazon is doing Now? http://www.alligator.org/news/campus/article_af8349de-e1df-11e1-b2bf-0019bb2963f4.html

[Tacachale]

It's also a feature of the market - more and more people are using e-book readers. It's really too bad, dead tree books have a lot of advantages of e-book readers, but they just don't have as good of a marketing campaign.

As far as Amazon goes, that's as much the state's fault as anything. Year after year they neglect to come up with an appropriate way to tax online retail, giving online sellers a competitive advantage (ie, giving in-state retailers a competitive disadvantage). As if that wasn't bad enough, every penny we spend on Amazon goes straight out of Florida. It's maddening, and successive legislatures have been sitting on their hands for years.

[If_I_Loved_you]

It's also a feature of the market - more and more people are using e-book readers. It's really too bad, dead tree books have a lot of advantages of e-book readers, but they just don't have as good of a marketing campaign.

As far as Amazon goes, that's as much the state's fault as anything. Year after year they neglect to come up with an appropriate way to tax online retail, giving online sellers a competitive advantage (ie, giving in-state retailers a competitive disadvantage). As if that wasn't bad enough, every penny we spend on Amazon goes straight out of Florida. It's maddening, and successive legislatures have been sitting on their hands for years.

The e-book has it drawbacks you don't really own what you buy? I don't believe you can sell your e-books since it's digital. And Amazon grew while George W. Bush was in office. On August 1, 2008, AbeBooks announced that it had been acquired by Amazon.com. And Google for yourself what else Amazon.com owns?

[Captain Zissou]

It's also a feature of the market - more and more people are using e-book readers. It's really too bad, dead tree books have a lot of advantages of e-book readers, but they just don't have as good of a marketing campaign.

As far as Amazon goes, that's as much the state's fault as anything. Year after year they neglect to come up with an appropriate way to tax online retail, giving online sellers a competitive advantage (ie, giving in-state retailers a competitive disadvantage). As if that wasn't bad enough, every penny we spend on Amazon goes straight out of Florida. It's maddening, and successive legislatures have been sitting on their hands for years.

The e-book has it drawbacks you don't really own what you buy? I don't believe you can sell your e-books since it's digital. And Amazon grew while George W. Bush was in office. On August 1, 2008, AbeBooks announced that it had been acquired by Amazon.com. And Google for yourself what else Amazon.com owns?

So now we are also blaming W. for the demise of independent book retailers??  How about we blame him for obesity in America, losing socks in the laundry, and for the great fire of London?

[fsquid]

I'm blaming him for the disaster that was the Olympic Triplecast back in the day.

[If_I_Loved_you]

It's also a feature of the market - more and more people are using e-book readers. It's really too bad, dead tree books have a lot of advantages of e-book readers, but they just don't have as good of a marketing campaign.

As far as Amazon goes, that's as much the state's fault as anything. Year after year they neglect to come up with an appropriate way to tax online retail, giving online sellers a competitive advantage (ie, giving in-state retailers a competitive disadvantage). As if that wasn't bad enough, every penny we spend on Amazon goes straight out of Florida. It's maddening, and successive legislatures have been sitting on their hands for years.

The e-book has it drawbacks you don't really own what you buy? I don't believe you can sell your e-books since it's digital. And Amazon grew while George W. Bush was in office. On August 1, 2008, AbeBooks announced that it had been acquired by Amazon.com. And Google for yourself what else Amazon.com owns?

So now we are also blaming W. for the demise of independent book retailers??  How about we blame him for obesity in America, losing socks in the laundry, and for the great fire of London?

Yes, No, No and No.

[If_I_Loved_you]

I'm blaming him for the disaster that was the Olympic Triplecast back in the day.

Good! Good! let's Blame him for all of are Troubles.

[fsquid]

I'm blaming him for the disaster that was the Olympic Triplecast back in the day.

Good! Good! let's Blame him for all of are Troubles.

Certainly we should blame him for that sentence you just typed.

[Debbie Thompson]

It's also a feature of the market - more and more people are using e-book readers. It's really too bad, dead tree books have a lot of advantages of e-book readers, but they just don't have as good of a marketing campaign.

I have a Nook, but I don't use it as often as I thought I would.  There is just something about holding a book in my hand, feeling the heft of it, reaching up to turn the page.  If it's a thick book, I feel so much smarter reading it than a thin book.  LOL  And then when I'm done with it, putting it on my book shelf to enjoy again some day, or making a trip to the library and returning it, and then browsing the stacks for the next thing to read.  Hmm...what shall I pick up today?  Non-Fiction?  Biography?  Latest Best Seller?  Just not the same experience with an e-Reader, although they are convenient.

[If_I_Loved_you]

I'm blaming him for the disaster that was the Olympic Triplecast back in the day.

Good! Good! let's Blame him for all of are Troubles.

Certainly we should blame him for that sentence you just typed.

Whats wrong with my sentence Teacher? Have you watched "Family Guy" there is a Cockroach that says Good Good. Should I have left out the exclamation symbols? GWB was my english teacher "Now, we talked to Joan Hanover. She and her husband, George, were visiting with us. They are near retirement â€" retiring â€" in the process of retiring, meaning they're very smart, active, capable people who are retirement age and are retiring."

[ronchamblin]

Amazon has done more to hurt the economy than most people realize, and this is because of our government's lack of action to investigate the idea that a new, damaging, dynamic has arrived in the economy, much like the late nineteenth century when the energetic capitalists were forming powerful monopolies, unfairly killing off smaller competitors so as to increase prices.  The new dynamic is of course the Internet.  It has allowed an efficiency in marketing, selling and buying never before seen, and its impact on retailers throughout the nation has been catastrophic.  Although the Internet has been a boon in certain respects, it's efficiency and brutality to some businesses, has been a negative jolt to the economy.

The Internet was the major factor behind the closing of Tappin Book mine at the beach.  And it has been the cause of many other bookstores going out of business.  The e-book is making some impact on the health of bookstores, but I believe the impact will level off, leaving a good market for the regular books from now on, as some people, as reflected in our continuing sales, will want certain conveniences while reading the larger books, and will simply want real books to have on their shelves.

Each format has its advantages, each having attributes and abilities lacking in the other.  So I'm inclined to believe that both the e-book and the traditional book will exist in parallel.  The only problem with the e-books is that there are more and more cases showing up of NCH (nook cancer of the hands), and KCH (kindle cancer of the hands), generated apparently by some slight radiation coming from the e-books.  One doesn't have to worry about the cancers with the traditional book.   

[peestandingup]

The internet isn't just killing off books. Its killing retail in general as we have known it up to this point. Little piddly music stores & the postal service was just the beginning.

Truth be told, most of the crap we see all around us today is completely unnecessary & becoming irrelevant. Unless its clothing, food, or specialized boutique shopping of some kind that the internet can't replicate, then its in danger. Its not apparent at first, but its becoming that way as we move forward. Thats why you saw places like Circuit City & CompUSA fall years ago (they were the weakest), & are now seeing the big boys (like Best Buy) start the process of collapsing. The bubble was big, now its bursting all over the place. You can feel the panic all over the place.

Just today I was in an Office Depot waiting to be checked out, was looking around at the employees & thought "Damn, almost every bit of this stuff I can buy or have done online." Not even that, but cheaper & probably better quality. Without even going in somewhere. There's no way to complete with that, and they won't. Their overhead is simply too tremendous in those storefronts. My opinion is the only reason why places like that are still surviving is because of the technology gap between the young & old. Meaning the oldies are most likely the ones keeping them in business. As you know, that never lasts.

P.S. I'm not exactly celebrating this. But I don't think the answer is for some kind of government intervention to step in & keep these things on artificial life support. Its natural progression that they die, like everything else that technology made obsolete. The problem is gonna be how society deals with it all, in the go go capitalism world that we've made for ourselves up to now. Because one thing's for sure, when you factor in the population numbers, how less things are manufactured here (or by robotics), and now with the oncoming death of most of retail, there WILL NOT be enough jobs to go around. And not everyone can (or even should) go to college to get a degree (just ask the 50% of graduates who are unemployed or severely underemployed).

So here we are.

[If_I_Loved_you]

The internet isn't just killing off books. Its killing retail in general as we have known it up to this point. Little piddly music stores & the postal service was just the beginning.

Truth be told, most of the crap we see all around us today is completely unnecessary & becoming irrelevant. Unless its clothing, food, or specialized boutique shopping of some kind that the internet can't replicate, then its in danger. Its not apparent at first, but its becoming that way as we move forward. Thats why you saw places like Circuit City & CompUSA fall years ago (they were the weakest), & are now seeing the big boys (like Best Buy) start the process of collapsing. The bubble was big, now its bursting all over the place. You can feel the panic all over the place.

Just today I was in an Office Depot waiting to be checked out, was looking around at the employees & thought "Damn, almost every bit of this stuff I can buy or have done online." Not even that, but cheaper & probably better quality. Without even going in somewhere. There's no way to complete with that, and they won't. Their overhead is simply too tremendous in those storefronts. My opinion is the only reason why places like that are still surviving is because of the technology gap between the young & old. Meaning the oldies are most likely the ones keeping them in business. As you know, that never lasts.

P.S. I'm not exactly celebrating this. But I don't think the answer is for some kind of government intervention to step in & keep these things on artificial life support. Its natural progression that they die, like everything else that technology made obsolete. The problem is gonna be how society deals with it all, in the go go capitalism world that we've made for ourselves up to now. Because one thing's for sure, when you factor in the population numbers, how less things are manufactured here (or by robotics), and now with the oncoming death of most of retail, there WILL NOT be enough jobs to go around. And not everyone can (or even should) go to college to get a degree (just ask the 50% of graduates who are unemployed or severely underemployed).

So here we are.

"My opinion is the only reason why places like that are still surviving is because of the technology gap between the young & old. Meaning the oldies are most likely the ones keeping them in business. As you know, that never lasts." Your quote is right on the money! I'm in my 50's and to this day I have Never downloaded music on to a MP3 player! When I'm at Barnes & Noble I see the people buying the Nook. http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/mid/1508/articleId/979/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/Default.aspx

[fsquid]

Circuit City died because their management team made a series of errors stretching a decade.  Their real estate plan was crap, their inventory management was crap, their decision to stop selling appliances was crap, and their decision to go from a commission based compensation plan to an hourly rate was crap.