Local Bookstores, Social Hubs, and Mutualization

http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2009/11/local-bookstores-social-hubs-and-mutualization/

34 20 17 years ago

patio11• 17 years ago

This same thing is happening to video game stores, too. They all sell a product which is, inherently, interchangeable -- as soon as you get out of the store with Final Fantasy XIII it doesn't matter what store you bought it. They offer little, if any, value over purchasing it online. The game companies would love to recover the 50% of the MSRP that they leak to the store, and are getting into the online distribution act.

We've lost three video game stores in my town (of 150,000) in the last year alone. Its almost annoying how often I have to switch shops. But well, not that annoying. I spent probably $2,000 at the first one to go under over the years and it barely rated a "Shucks, that one was conveniently located next to my gym." Which is part of the problem.

(Speaking of bookstores: I spend quite a bit on books, mostly through Amazon, and every year at Christmas I go into Barnes and Noble with an empty duffel bag and leave with a full one. This year I bought a Kindle. I doubt I will ever enter an English bookstore again. Sorry guys... but, well, not too sorry. I like books -- I have no particular attachment to you.)

stcredzero4• 17 years ago

We've lost three video game stores in my town...it barely rated a "Shucks, that one was conveniently located next to my gym."

When Barnes and Noble starts including a Curves onsite, is it time to buy their stock, or is it a sign they're on their last gasp?

unperson• 17 years ago

Actually the retail markup on video games is relatively low, particularly when compared to books. This is why online prices don't vary much from brick and mortar and why the used game market is what drives retail game stores.

msluyter2• 17 years ago

I really liked this article. The other thing that could be added to his reconceptualized bookstore is alcohol. There was a time (briefly) in the early 90's when bookstores were considered a good place for singles to meet. That was probably an overhyped media story de jure, but some sort of hybrid bar/coffeehouse/bookstore would be my ultimate fantasy nerd/intellectual hangout. I'm not sure how to address various logistical problems, however (spilling beer on books, inventory control in a porous social environment, etc...)

wallflower2• 17 years ago

Another potential business synergy: Laundromats and beer

Suds and suds

Do your laundry, put it in the dryer, and mingle. For when are we at our most unglamorous yet approachable as when we are folding our underwear? I believe Portland or Seattle had one of these.

I've looked into this and there a lot of not-insurmountable hurdles (zoning, licensing, insurance, smells, food safety, and, most importantly, noise/sound proofing)

DanielBMarkham• 17 years ago

I like this idea a lot -- for high-density urban areas, especially those near campus, it could provide a way to do chores and socialize at the same time.

Having said that, it also just occurred to me that this idea was the subject of a song a few years back by a group that did a lot of parody songs -- "Confederate Railroad" maybe?

(google, google) -- here's a link to a really corny video of the song, for anybody interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgrfVw2loEc

So at the least the idea has been parodied. That's probably a good sign it has legs.

joe_bleau2• 17 years ago

These are quite common in college towns.

stcredzero4• 17 years ago

There was "Sudsy Malone's" in Cincinnati. A terrible place to do laundry! A very dirty, smelly, bar. A very grungy music venue. It was very popular. Don't know if it's still around.

pmjordan• 17 years ago

They actually have one of these here in Vienna - http://www.phil.info/

It seems to be more popular among the liberal arts/philosophy crowd than tech geeks, although I've admittedly only been there twice and I'm no good at socialising with random people, so who knows. Normally not my crowd, but I found out about it because it's one of the few places you can hang out where there's no smoking allowed. It's also much quieter (volume wise) than your average bar, which is great for having an actual conversation. Apparently they have regular literary events (readings, whatever); I haven't quite worked out how the book part works, it seems to be somewhere between library and bookstore. Drinks and snacks are a tad pricey though.

I haven't yet discovered a hacker/nerd themed bar/cafe, though there's the Metalab http://metalab.at/wiki/English which is a local hacker space and seems to be quite popular with people who are smarter and way more productive than me.

jakarta• 17 years ago

Strand Books in NYC I think offers a model that is ideal for bookstores. They feature a large used selection that is often price competitive or sometimes even cheaper than Amazon's used selection. Especially when you take into account the fact that Amazon Prime often does not work with third party sellers.

However, I know some people are totally averse to used books.

stcredzero4• 17 years ago

I think that Bookstores could try to do some things that would be very difficult for most people to replicate in their own homes.

(Sports Bars show us that this can be a model for profitability.)

How about a "magic wall" using some teleconferencing technology? Make it seem like one side of the Cafe floor is in Austin, Texas, and the other side is in Boston, Massachusetts? How about a "Minority Report" touchscreen as a virtual bookshelf? More like a "Magical Bookshelf" where the shelves would magically re-order according to your whim, and bibliographies or works cited could appear as "flocks" of self-organizing covers flying around in space. Such tools could be made, such that they have real utility. These could result in superior interfaces for collaboration and research. (Of course, not everyone wants to do their research in public, but a lot of people don't mind at all! The former would rent such facilities at a co-working site. The latter might just want to show off some esoteric tidbit they know about the Twilight universe.)

adriand• 17 years ago

I'm not certain that bookstores are going to be put out of business quite as thoroughly as record stores have been. Music is a bit different from books. It's actually easier and better for me to have my music in digital format, because then I can play it where and when I like. When it was on records or CDs, it was still getting converted into electric signals before it came out of the speakers, so the medium is unimportant.

On the other hand, I like having physical books. I enjoy the medium. I also like having good books in bookshelves, I think it looks good and they're nice to have around (like fine art and furniture, fine books tell you something about people - that might be elitist, but I'm not afraid of that label).

Certainly book stores will be under a lot of pressure. But interestingly enough, the small book store that opened up near my home recently has been getting me books that are cheaper than what I've found online. Mainly this is because they do not charge me shipping (their books arrive in bulk orders, presumably shipping is spread out that way).

I've been finding books online, and then emailing the owner to get her to order them in for me!

dagw• 17 years ago

Books have another advantage over CDs in that they are easier to browse in store. If I'm walking through a book store and see a book that looks interesting it's easy to pick up and quickly read a bit to see if it interests me. No one ever really solved that problem with CDs.

I often walk into a book store with no real plan of buying anything and walk out with a book or two I happened to spot and decided that I wanted after reading a bit.

mechanical_fish• 17 years ago

No one ever really solved that problem with CDs.

Or, rather, the problem was solved by inventing online music distribution. If I want to sample a CD I look for it online. It is just so much better than a listening station in a store. (I don't think I ever used one of those, even when I used to go into music stores.)

Tichy• 17 years ago

That article seems a tad bit unscientific. Just because more books can be ordered online than any physical bookstore could stock, it doesn't follow that more books are successful (they may or may not be - I miss the data proving the point).

One thing is certain, though: Amazon sucks as a recommendation engine. Basically they also just push the bestsellers onto the public. It is very difficult to browse and discover on Amazon. (Not counting "You may also like" - will they really derive some exotic novels from someone reading the latest Dan Brown?).

As we now (from actual scientific experiments), what becomes a bestseller in a channel could be random to a big part. So the fewer the channels, the fewer the bestsellers could be a possible conclusion.

On the other hand, maybe that bodes well for the small book stores - so far they still have no competition on the web for individualized recommendations, or personality (many small bookstores reflect the tastes of their owners).

tjr• 17 years ago

I've recently been buying quite a few books online... through Amazon's third-party book service. I've found a plethora of academic books (e.g., edited collections of research papers) for sale, maybe used, maybe new, at a fraction of the regular Amazon price. I like to think that I'm not only getting a great deal but also helping smaller independent stores.

Local Bookstores, Social Hubs, and Mutualization

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