How Independent Bookstores Manage to Survive

In the 1950s, dozens of small, independently operated used bookstores lined Fourth Avenue between Union Square and Astor Place, their open-air stands a haven for browsing bibliophiles. A close-knit, knowledgeable community of book lovers knew this six-block long strip as Book Row. For years, the few block spans along gritty Fourth Ave was where Manhattanites went to read.

Over the years, weeded out by rising rent and larger stores threatening to take over the industry, Book Row dwindled. Its last survivor is Strand Bookstore, its famed 18 miles of books occupying the stacks of their home on 12th Street and Broadway. In a time when literary dooms dayers, clutching their e-readers to their chests, herald the extinction of the printed word, Strand has become the face of the stalwart independent bookstore.

When Ben Bass first opened The Strand in 1927, he never imagined that the small store would become the longstanding community bookstore it is today.

In 1971, by which time most of the smaller bookstores on Fourth Avenue had closed their doors for good, Leonard Riggio purchased a historic but badly mismanaged bookselling business. Once successful, it had been poorly run since the death of its previous owner in 1969 and currently only ran a small wholesale operation and one retail location at 105 5th Avenue. Under Riggio’s ownership, the business grew to become the largest bookseller in the United States, keeping the name of its original owners, Barnes & Noble.

The stores became well known for its marked-down bestsellers, expansive children’s sections and upscale cafe areas. Riggio’s bookshop would become the nation’s staple bookstore in just a few decades, and remain as such, with 674 bookstores in all 50 states.

Today, Barnes & Noble’s empire is facing a downturn. According to their August 25, 2013 financial report, in-store and online profits decreased by 23.9 percent within the last year. Their 8th Street and Sixth Avenue location closed in late 2013, the first of 20 stores slated to close this year.

Experts attribute the decline in business to Amazon, which has dominated the e-book scene with their Kindle. Barnes & Noble’s biggest bookstore rival, Borders, which also became a major player in 1971, filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and has since liquidated all of its locations. Together, Barnes & Noble and Borders created the discounted mega-bookstore, putting hundreds of independently operated booksellers who could not compete with the prices out of business.

But in a classic survival-of-the-fittest turn of events, the very business model that the mega-bookstore invented is putting them in the path of extinction. Convenience discounts and wholesale has migrated to the Internet, and Amazon, founded in 1994, is leading the trend.

Amazon has destroyed the bookstore business model. Borders is already gone and Barnes & Noble will follow, Richard Brandt, author of The Rise of Amazon, told the Free Press.

Even as larger bookstores are flailing in the wake of Amazon’s success, independent bookstores have seen an increase in customers browsing their shelves. The American Booksellers Association, a nonprofit industry association that promotes independent bookstores, saw an increase in their membership, from 1,512 in 2011 to 1,632 in 2013.

Nevertheless, Amazon still poses a threat to independent bookstores with their vast discounts on books. There are smartphone apps that allow shoppers to compare list book prices in bookstores to Amazon prices just by scanning the barcode. And for some, nothing beats the convenience of having a book delivered to your door.

Cost aside, independent bookstores have one thing that Amazon is unable to offer its customers: a friendly, knowledgeable staff that can speak to you in person.

“They cannot compete on price, but they can compete on service. The best stores hire people who know about books,” Brandt said. They can recommend books to customers, give advice and feedback, and suggest books the customers might like

However, some independent bookstore owners point to other factors as their keys to success. Bob Contant, co-owner of St. Mark’s Bookstore, explained that his store benefitted because of the proximity of the nearby Barnes & Noble that closed down. Another factor is that rent control, along with customer service, ultimately makes the difference for a store’s success.

“The main reason Strand has succeeded is because they own their property. Real estate is the killer of any small business,” Contant said.

Despite this, smaller stores have more freedom to create unique spaces. Unlike the cookie-cutter quality of a chain retailer, it is highly unlikely you will enter an independent bookstore with the feeling that you’ve seen something like it several times before.

“We’ve made sure that our physical space is incredibly enjoyable to browse, that there are comfy chairs here. Our store is a bit unusual in that we have our own garden; we have a store cat,” said Stephanie Valdez, co-owner of The Community Bookstore, a successful independent bookstore in Brooklyn. “All of these things add up to make our space different than just browsing in a chain store.”

Strand has also made itself well-known by turning itself into a brand. Along with their ubiquitous tote bags, who have featured designers from student competition winners to Kate Spade, Strand sells baby onesies, mugs, key chains and t-shirts, in addition to their retail sections of journals, cards and different knickknacks.

Many Strand customers, like Willie Quiroz, a freshman at Parsons, said that he shops at Strand because, “Barnes & Noble is too expensive. I don’t have time for online orders. And Strand is cheap and close.”

Beyond the discounts and the convenience, the real hope that lies in the independent bookstore is its duty not just as a cultivator of knowledge, but also as a hub of discovery, one that can only be superficially cultivated on Amazon.com or in a mega chain store. Discoveries which can be found along the wheeled racks of Strand, where for nearly 100 years patrons have let their fingers glide across the cracked spines of used books. Here you can find a true sense of happiness not graspable in a mega bookstore, within the binding of a book, old and forgotten, until the next reader picks it up, brushes it off, and looks inside.

With reporting by: Rafaella Gunz and Hannah Rinehart