smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Greg Cagle <gregc@gregcagle.com> |
| Subject | Re: All I'm sayin' |
| Date | Thu, 04 Dec 2003 08:56:58 -0800 |
[Part 1 text/plain us-ascii (1.3 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
Stewart Mason wrote:
> PS: 8-P (orright, Greg?)
Just don't call me "Sparky!" 8^)
To agree with some of the others - this issue is much more complex
than a simplistic "Wal-Mart is evil" viewpoint. Around here (Portland,
OR) we don't see a lot of Wal-Mart. The closest one to where I live is
a good 20 miles away, and I have yet to find a good reason to go that
far out of my way for much of anything.
But let's talk about bookstores. Portland is the home of the "world's
largest bookstore" - Powell's, along with a myriad of other independent
bookstores. When Borders and Barnes and Noble started proliferating
there was a lot of concern, much along the lines of the plot in
"You've Got Mail."
So here we are 20 years later; there's been some trauma in the system,
but it would appear that there is room (and market share) for large
and small independent bookstores alongside Borders in the downtown
area. Powell's is doing just fine, as are a number of smaller
independents. I think there are *less* of them than before, but
most are surviving.
But this whole model does fall apart in the suburbs - you won't find
an independent bookstore (except a branch of Powell's, oddly
enough) or an independent music store (ON TOPIC!!) in mini-mall
land around here.
- Greg
--
Greg Cagle
gregc at gregcagle dot com
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.