Why Indie Bookstores?

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I received this from my favorite indie bookstore here in Tucson, Mostly Books. The shop is a bibliophile’s dream: floor to nearly ceiling shelves of books covering all genres, used and new, hardcover and mass paperback and everything in between. Run by two sisters, Mostly Books is one of the final few indies left standing in a city of about a million people. This town used to support a ton of fabulous bookshops with names like Footsteps of A Giant Hound, The Bookmark,  and  Readers’ Oasis. Then B&N (the Walmart of booksellers) arrived and many little treasure troves of local atmosphere were crushed. Now online book shopping is causing more problems than the loss of bookstores.

Here is Mostly Books’ "Soapbox":

Hello,

I have been talking about shopping locally for some time now.  Let me tell you what happened yesterday at the store.  A woman came in looking for a book for her son for school.  She said his teacher said they could order it on Amazon but she came here instead.  Which we really appreciated.

My issue is with the teacher. 
Teaching jobs are being cut.  Why? 
Because there is not enough money in the state budget. 
And why isn’t there enough money?
Because there is not enough sales tax being collected. 

Well, guess what, Amazon does not pay sales tax to Arizona or most other states.

The other problem is jobs.  Every time you buy online, local people lose jobs.  If you choose to shop local, it helps create, or save, jobs in the local economy.  This in turn helps the city and the state with taxes, etc. and those people then spend money locally, and on it goes.

We ALL need to support each other and SHOP LOCAL.

Teachers, please, call a local store and tell them what books your students need and they will order them for you.  Tell your colleagues to do the same.

Parents, tell your children’s teachers the same thing.

         
***
 
Let me reiterate: We ALL need to support each other and SHOP LOCAL.
It doesn’t matter if you’re in Tucson or Timbuktu – if you can order a book through a local bookstore, by all means do it. Yeah, it’ll cost you a little more but you get what you pay for: communication with a real human being in an atmosphere of book utopia, and the knowledge that you’re not feeding some corporate CEO’s gold toilet fund.
 
As indie authors, these indie bookstores are our first connection with the community. Have your events there, tell people this is where they should go to purchase your book, and support them every way you can.
 
If people want to buy your book online, let them purchase the ebook, podcast, or Kindle version. If they want a real book, encourage them to go to a REAL bookstore.
 
Yes, I know we independent authors sell online, and often it’s our only sales outlet. But whenever you can, help your local economy by selling paper books through indie bookstores.
 
We are all in this together.
 
Check out Mostly Books here:

http://www.indiebound.org/stores/mostly-books-0