I love bookstores, especially the independent variety. Any trip to downtown Berkeley doesn't feel right without popping into Pegasus Books, where I look forward to the calendar sale every new year. Last summer Pi Wen and I enjoyed a getaway weekend in SF, complete with brunch in Potrero Hill. Before brunch we both popped into Christopher's Books, and both left with print matter. Just this month a used bookstore opened in our neighborhood, complete with its glorious musty book smell. It reminded me of Bookman's Alley, the indie shop I frequented in college (when I wasn't visiting Great Expectations or the Booknook Parnassus, two other indies in town.)
All that said, these days I love the ability to download books to my iPad within a few seconds. A few weeks ago I attended a couple talks at Cal, both of which led to book recommendations. With no trouble at all those books were wirelessly beamed to me, and they will be my companions on next month's flight to Malaysia. Last weekend I downloaded Jeffrey Eugenides's latest novel The Marriage Plot, for next month's book club. At 10 PM on a Saturday night, this was by far an easier and less expensive option for obtaining the book than driving over to Pegasus.
A few weeks ago, to widespread derision, Amazon held a one-day promotion. Customers could go into a physical store, use a price check app to see if an item they were interested in cost less on Amazon, and then get a 5% discount for purchasing that item online. In effect, Amazon used all the physical store's ongoing liabilities--the need to pay rent, pay their employees, keep the lights on, and pay taxes--against them. Horribly crappy, and everyone thinks so.
But...the Amazon promotion explicitly excluded books. Sure, you could go to Best Buy and find out how much cheaper a flatscreen TV was at Amazon, and then get that discount. But you couldn't go to Pegasus Books and do the same thing.
Nonetheless, novelist Richard Russo penned a widely discussed attack on Amazon's promotion as the next step in the company's assault on independent bookstores. Russo makes many strong points about the role of physical bookstores aside from selling wares--fostering community, supporting emerging artists. I linked to his piece on Facebook, as I've long been outraged at the fact that Amazon gets away with charging no sales taxes. Economies of scale are one thing, but as the Occupiers have reminded us everyone should play by the same rules. Russo worries about a dystopian future in which everyone shops at Amazon and the independent bookstore disappears.
Enter Farhad Manjoo, who published a sharp-elbowed and much derided rebuttal to Russo. Manjoo makes three central points. First, that it's more expensive to shop at the indie store than Amazon (no way to dispute that). Second, that this reduced cost has led people to purchase more books, which seems logical but is not certain based on the evidence he provides (he cites statistics, but those are from Amazon and would need further unpacking.) Third, and most importantly, that the saved dollars from shopping at Amazon can be redirected toward cultural activities. Manjoo: "With the money you saved by buying books at Amazon, you could have gone to see a few productions at your local theater company, visited your city’s museum, purchased some locally crafted furniture, or spent more money at your farmers’ market. Each of these is a cultural experience that’s created in your community."
The backlash against Farhad was predicatable and vitriolic, confirming my belief that hysterical opposition to someone means that person is on to something. Most of the commeners seem to think that he doesn't like to read, ignoring the fact that he's a widely read technology columnist who published a book three years ago. Actually, his central thesis is that Amazon--for all of its hardball tactics--makes reading more accessible than the independent bookstore.
There is no doubt that Amazon should have to charge and collect sales tax. Even so, Amazon would be cheaper than its competitors. Arguments against the big A boil down to the fact that shopping there is penny wise and pound foolish...we lose community, we lose contact, we lose connection. True. But I've noticed that the people who make this point all have discretionary income. What about the mother on a fixed income who wants a book for her baby? Amazon, or Walmart, are much better options for her than my beloved Pegasus. There's a strong strain of elitism in all this protestation.
Not that I personally object to elitism; I am pretty hoity toity myself. But let's be honest. People like me are willing to pay the premiums to keep a place like Pegasus afloat. The independent bookstore serves the upper-middle and upper classes.
If all independent bookstores disappear from God's green earth I will be very sad. But I won't read any less. And I'll use my saved money to fund local reading societies or other means of encouraging new writers. Reading is the thing, and words are a treasure. Bookstores are a means to that end, but not the end itself. As we cruise along through the digital age, we shouldn't lose sight of that fact.
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