With the rising popularity of Amazon and e-books in the late 1990s and early 2000s, many predicted the demise of the physical bookstore. When Borders Books and Music declared bankruptcy in 2011, that seemed all but a guarantee. But fast forward to the present day and the brick and mortar bookstore business is actually growing.
According to the American Booksellers Association, 323 bookstores opened last year. That's up 31% compared with the year before. More than 250 stores are expected to open in 2025. So what's driving the change?
In the increasingly online era, are people just looking to connect with physical media more? Instead of being on social media do people yearn for a real-life bookworm standing behind a counter to give us a recommendation on what to read next?
On Monday’s “Sound of Ideas,” we’ll talk to a few owners of new bookstores in Northeast Ohio.
Several of those owners have found their specific niche, whether that be the type of book they sell, the aesthetic of their shop, or the model of their business.
Later in the hour, we’ll mark the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The ship went down in a storm on Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975. All 29 crew members on board lost their lives.
A new book, “Wrecked: The Edmund Fitzgerald and the Sinking of the American Economy" looks not only at the tragedy of the wreck, but also examines the economic landscape of the Great Lakes region in the mid-1970s.
Guests:
- David Farrante, Owner, Visible Voice Books
- L.S. Quinn, Executive Director, The Reading Room CLE
- Manuel Chinchilla, Owner, Hexagon Books
- Thomas Nelson, Author, "Wrecked: The Edmund Fitzgerald and the Sinking of the American Economy"
