On Dec 22, 1:28*pm, jps wrote:
On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:12:42 -0500, wrote:
On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:37:26 -0800, jps wrote:

LAREDO, Texas — The final chapter has been written for the lone
bookstore on the streets of Laredo.

With a population of nearly a quarter-million people, this city could
soon be the largest in the nation without a single bookseller.

The situation is so grim that schoolchildren have pleaded for a
reprieve from next month's planned shutdown of the B. Dalton
bookstore. After that, the nearest store will be 150 miles away in San
Antonio.

I assume the "book stores" can't compete with Walmart. I know around
here B&N is having their ass handed to them by Target, Walmart and the
public library. I see lots of people milling around but not many
actually get into a checkout line. If it wasn't for the coffee they
might not be making any money at all.
There is also a lot of pressure from the internet
Amazon will make it tough for anyone who has rent to pay in a mall.
I would never buy a DVD in a store. You can usually get a disk or a
book sent to your house cheaper than the best bargain bin deal in a
store.

"The B. Dalton store was never a community destination with comfy
couches and an espresso bar, but its closing will create a literary
void in a city with a high illiteracy rate."

I suspect it's driven by more than price pressure. *You need to have
enough interest in the product to sell it in volume. *230,000 people
can't generate enough interest in a single bookstore? *Yikes.

There isn't a Walmart within 20 miles of Seattle that I know of and
most educated people here consider them a cancer and stay away.

Really? There are 18 Walmarts in the greater Seattle area. There's 5
south of you before you hit Tacoma, and two or three more north toward
Everett. They typically don't build in city centers, but more out of
the city where the land is cheaper. Seems that your fellow Seattle
area dwellers have no issue with Wallyworlds.

I do have to agree with you... they are a cancer. I avoid them like
the plague.