Just found a 1999 article claiming the internet would kill bookstores by 2005

I was cleaning out my dad's office last weekend and found a clipped newspaper article predicting Amazon would wipe out all physical bookstores within six years, and now I can't stop thinking about how my local indie shop just celebrated 20 years in business.

2 comments

2 Comments

elliotc101d ago

lol that prediction aged like milk. i remember when people were saying the same thing about my town, and honestly what worked for me was just sticking with my local shop no matter what. they started doing these little book talks and had a coffee corner, stuff you can't get online. the internet definitely changed things, but it didn't kill bookstores, it just made the good ones adapt.

dylan_green5820h ago

Honestly I gotta push back on that @elliotc10. Saying the internet 'just made the good ones adapt' is completely ignoring the TENS OF THOUSANDS of bookstores that DID die. You can't adapt if you're already broke and the big chains plus Amazon undercut you on price for YEARS. The ones that survived are the exception not the rule. Your local shop having book talks and coffee is nice but that's a hobby space now not really a bookstore. Most independent shops can't afford to turn into a cafe and events venue. The internet ABSOLUTELY killed the bookstore model that sold books as the main thing. What's left is a different business entirely.