Bookstore Chain

What is a Bookstore Chain?

A bookstore chain is a large scale bookstore that typically prioritizes quantity of books sold and distributed over the reader's personal experience in their store. Some examples include Barnes & Noble and Half Price Books, which are both popular and prominent bookstore chains in the U.S.

Drawbacks of a Bookstore Chain

Bookstore chains, although popular, do have their limitations.

Bookstore Chains vs Independent Bookstores

Compared to the rigidity of bookstore chains, independent bookstores bring much more flexibility and freedom to the market of bookselling. An independent bookstore, unlike chains, can choose to sell books that they find interesting and fit with their genre preferences or values, no matter their popularity. The owner of the bookstore chooses what they want to have on the shelves, rather than letting the reader's demand decide for them. While this might not result in maximum profit for the bookseller, indie (independent) bookstores are actually seeing an increase in popularity due to growing desires to buy locally. Buying locally also returns profit to the community itself, which shopping on amazon or Barnes & Noble wouldn't do. Additionally, independent bookstores also have the ability to curate their books to fit with the taste of the local community, rather than creating a generalized system for everywhere. However, independent bookstores usually only have one or a handful of stores, and are not applicable to a wider global market.