Citing Brooklyn's BookCourt as "one of thousands" of indies in the U.S. that are doing well "long after analysts predicted their demise," the Week considered "four reasons why independent bookstores are thriving":
- They offer an experience.
- They curate and recommend in a human way.
- They're diversifying their offerings.
- They foster community.
"We're doing very well," said BookCourt bookseller Andrew Unger. "We don't like people coming in and saying 'Oh you guys are suffering so much,' because we're not."
"I definitely wanted to create an experience," noted Josh Spencer, owner of the Last Bookstore in Los Angeles. "I thought, people aren't gonna come just to buy books, because they can buy them on Amazon."
Katie Orphan, a manager at the Last Bookstore, added: "We've had a really wonderful advantage in that our store is not just a place to pick up whatever book you need but it's also a place that people go for the experience of having come here. You get a unique experience with a bookstore you can't get online. That has been a really valuable part of the store for us."
"Every store has its own reason why it survives," Unger observed. "Every store has a different way of going about it. One thing we're just really grateful for is there's a community here that wants us to be here and so they make sure we're able to be here."