A recent article on CNN.com mentioned that Laredo, a city in Texas of 250,000 people, has been left without a bookstore. On January 16, Barnes & Noble closed their store in Laredo’s Mall del Norte. Despite the Laredo store being profitable it was closed as part of Barnes and Noble’s nationwide strategy to shut down their chain of mall based stores.
Laredo, the city with no books. Is that what future holds for this city? Will no one be able to buy or borrow a book?
Sure, you can always find some books at a supermarket or a drug store. Nowadays who doesn’t use the internet, or particularly Amazon to buy books? In addition, the article claims that the city of Laredo has two public libraries with a catalogue of 20,000 books. But is that enough?
In the last couple of years, with the widespread adoption of internet shopping online retailers like Amazon have gained ground versus traditional bookstore chains. Borders and Barnes & Noble have been forced to close down stores all over the world. For instance, just before Christmas the headline in The Sunday Times “Borders bookstore to close in its final chapter” highlighted the closure of all Borders stores across the UK.
Nevertheless, online retailers are not the only threat to brick and mortar bookstores. With the rise of the Kindle and the launch of the iPad, it seems like massive adoption of e-books is just around the corner and in a few years time everyone will be running around with a portable e-reader device instead of a bulky book.
I admit it; I will probably be one of those carrying a Kindle or an iPad. But I also want to be able to walk up and down the aisles of a bookstore before buying a book. I wonder if this is too much to ask, or if the internet will gobble up all retail stores as we know them.
All I know is that I don’t want my town to become another Laredo.
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