Because of the Internet, oldschool bookstores struggle to survive

Read the article "Bookstore owner hangs on in digital world" at STLtoday.com here.

Relevant quotes for online book buyers:

"Between Amazon, eBay and the rise of Borders and Barnes & Noble, the last 10 years have not been kind to the people who run small, independent bookstores. Hundreds, thousands, have shut their doors."

"And with reading habits in a slump and e-books on the horizon, the next 10 years may not be kind, either."

"We got the Internet. We got Wal-Mart. We got video games. And everything hit all at once. … The business of selling books changed from the way it had been done for over 200 years. … We were there and we saw it, it's just that everything happened really fast. All the technology hit at once, and you could suddenly search through everybody's books at the same time. … All of our suppliers who we used to buy from, all the garage sales and estate sales, are now putting them up directly. So now we're competing with these people who have a first-edition Hemingway, and they're going to sell it for a dollar because it's just an old book."