an abbreviated ode to indie bookstores

Kasey Cox

One of the reasons I love visiting, shopping at, networking with, and working in an independent bookstore is that you never know what you'll find. The people who frequent indie bookstores, as customers and as staff, are an interesting, eclectic, Heinz 57, fascinating lot of people. And how does this group differ from the folks in a big box bookstore? Certainly, there's some overlap, but the folks who come to the indies usually love the treasure hunt. They are looking for more than the top 40. They want more than what Amazon tells them to buy this month, more than the Madison Avenue list of "what cool people are reading right now", more than Walmart's paperback rack. They want staff who can talk about what they've recently read, people who can suggest authors you might like because you just read this other book, informed recommendations on a book for your seven year old nephew.

While I find online shopping occasionally necessary, it is not always as convenient as the online companies would have you believe. Especially if there's a problem. Suddenly, you can't talk to a real person, you're dialing some "800" number -- if you can even find a phone number at all -- and being told to press "1" to continue in English, and the people you bought the book from have moved, died, or didn't provide delivery confirmation, so the book is lost. They don't care that you needed it NOW for class, or a birthday, or for your book club. Or you've been charged a heck of a lot more for shipping than was originally explained to you.

Don't you love just coming in to a bookstore to look? I love meandering, browsing the shelves, never knowing exactly what I might find. I like to touch the books, read selections, debate prices in my head, weigh my options, and .... best of all... no shipping, no wait time.

If you are more the directed hunter type of shopper, where you come in with a mission, and want to (or need to) get in and get out, that's no reason to avoid your local bookstore. Usually these folks will bend over backwards for you. They pride themselves on their customer service, and you are their customers. Unlike the faceless, nameless drones online, these people know you and will see you around on a regular basis. Bookstore staff in your town or neighborhood know that you buy books from them, and that you, then cook their steak the way they like it when they're at your restaurant for their special birthday dinner, or you fix their leaking pipes, or you help them when some spammer phishes their bank account. It's like the old "Cheers" series -- your bookstore knows your name, what you read, who you're interested in, what kind of prices you can afford.

Indie bookstores provide a place for people to meet, to talk, to try out different ideas, to learn, to lose themselves, to find themselves anew. They build community, one book at a time.

In this era of corporate greed and irresponsibility, in this economy of uncertainty, it's more important than ever to shop local.