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One can see that book stores and movies are struggling ... partly due to COVID-19, but, also partly due to business models that are gradually being phased-out. (COVID has only accelerated the inevitable). Similarly, it wasn't long ago when video rental stores and small mom & pop bookstores were everywhere ... and then gradually phased-out. Likewise, it wasn't all that long ago when small, single-bay movie theaters gave way to multiplex theaters. Even more recently, small theaters showing only films, have largely been replaced by those able to afford expensive digital equipment. Many libraries are likewise, ramping-down, or at least changing their offering ... as schools migrate to digital books and research is far more effectively done online.
The point is, things change! Businesses that adapt and change with the times, survive and even prosper, while those that insist on clinging to the old, will go out with the old.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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It's too late, they are on the way out and quickly. My wife has always been an avid reader, and even worked in a bookstore for several years just for fun and the discounts. She is now reading a couple of hours a day after work and in the evening - on her Kindle or I-pad. We have been giving away all of her books bought over the years to Goodwill or Value Village, she rarely read them more than once anyway. I'm surprised that the bookstores have lasted this long, but I'm afraid they are going the way of video rental stores and Radio Shack.
One can see that book stores and movies are struggling ... partly due to COVID-19, but, also partly due to business models that are gradually being phased-out. (COVID has only accelerated the inevitable). Similarly, it wasn't long ago when video rental stores and small mom & pop bookstores were everywhere ... and then gradually phased-out. Likewise, it wasn't all that long ago when small, single-bay movie theaters gave way to multiplex theaters. Even more recently, small theaters showing only films, have largely been replaced by those able to afford expensive digital equipment. Many libraries are likewise, ramping-down, or at least changing their offering ... as schools migrate to digital books and research is far more effectively done online.
The point is, things change! Businesses that adapt and change with the times, survive and even prosper, while those that insist on clinging to the old, will go out with the old.
I think you're right about trends, but it makes me sad for the people who don't understand the pleasures of browsing in a bookstores, and the pleasures of seeing a movie in the dark on a big screen with an audience. There are many calls to save restaurants, even though most people tend to cook at home. But bookstores are as worthy as restaurants.
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