BoatBanter.com - View Single Post - We don't need no damned books, we're in Texas!

jps

On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:57:30 -0500, wrote:

On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:28:00 -0800, 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.

I don't think Target is considered a spot to purchase reading material
unless its the kind that sits in the checkout line.

The short answer, Laredo ain't Seattle.

Yup.

Seattle is the home of the coffee shop and I suspect that is what you
consider a book store to be.

You mean a place to hang out? That's not an unfair representation
but, if you're into reading, it does require browsing unless you're
just there to pick up something specific. I find a lot of folks go
there to see what's there. Usually know what you want in a coffee
shop.

There are more than 50 bookstores in the Seattle metro area. Some of
them serving general interests

If you are just looking for best sellers,
magazines or pulp fiction, WalMart, Target and Kmart will serve your
needs just fine at 40-60 % of the list price. You may not have them in
Seattle but WalMart is real big in the south. It is a one stop shop
for people who don't have a lot of money

And they haven't a clue that they're feeding the same schmucks that
are systematically replacing stateside jobs with overseas employment.

Pretty soon, only Chinese will be able to afford Walmart's products.

According to the US Census Laredo is 94% hispanic and the median
family income is $29,000 a year
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48/4841464.html
I bet the coffee table books B.Dalton sells, mostly in English, are
not a huge seller.
If they knew anything about the demographics, they wouldn't have
opened a store there in the first place.

Probably so.