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Two years on from BLM protests, business has declined at Black-owned bookstores

Jun 20, 2022
However, it's still better than it was before the protests.
Black-owned bookstores have seen traffic thinning out following the surge after George Floyd's murder and the uproar that came after in 2020.
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Supply chain snags hit books

Nov 10, 2021
Shipping delays, reduced printing capacity and a paper shortage plague publishers and retailers as holiday shopping gets underway.
Publishers are likely to prioritize large book retailers like Barnes & Noble, above, for distribution rather than smaller, indie stores.
Justin Sullivan via Getty Images

Checking in with Black-owned bookstores, 1 year since George Floyd's murder

May 24, 2021
Business is still up, although not quite as much as it was in the six months following George Floyd's death.
James Fugate, co-owner of Eso Won Books, speaks with a customer at his store in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, Nov. 24, 2020.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Book sales are up, but is that helping independent sellers?

Dec 30, 2020
Book sales are up almost 8% this year. Mega online stores benefited the most, but some small players are pivoting in hopes of getting ahead.
James Fugate, co-owner of Eso Won Books in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, speaks with a customer on Nov. 24.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Bookstores see surge in sales of works about race

Jun 3, 2020
Merchants are reporting a spike in sales of titles like "How To Be an Antiracist."
One black bookstore owner said most of her new clients are white, and a lot of them are buying books for their kids.
Alex Grimm/Getty Images

Indie booksellers innovate to survive the age of Amazon

Jan 7, 2020
The holiday season is the busiest time of year for many retailers, including the country's 2,500 hundred independent bookstores. Some, despite Amazon's dominance, are flourishing.
Angel and Bob Dobrow opened Zenith Bookstore in Duluth in 2017.
Dan Kraker

Independent bookstores are thriving, but a threat looms

Dec 31, 2018
This isn’t a bad time to be in the independent bookstore business. The American Booksellers Association says there’s been a nearly 31 percent increase in the number of indie bookstores since 2009. The indie renaissance coincides with the collapse of national book chains. One threat to bookstores’ future: rising rents and labor costs. Click the […]
Could the "indie renaissance" that has been helping independent bookstores thrive also cause their downfall?
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Cookbooks are still going strong

Nov 26, 2018
For a lot of people, a physical cookbook is a way to escape a screen – and make some memories.
Matt Sartwell, managing partner at New York City bookshop Kitchen Arts & Letters.
Ashley Milne-Tyte/Marketplace