www.montanaseniornews.com
TAKE ONE!
FREE!
A Linchpin for Missoula’s Book-Loving Community: Fact & Fiction
[Photo by B. James Jokerst] By Gail Jokerst Anyone familiar with the Meg Ryan-Tom Hanks’ movie You’ve Got Mail, knows about the challenges independent bookstores face to stay in business. The plot of this 1998 film revolves around Kathleen Kelly, the owner of an independent bookstore in Manhattan that eventually has to close its doors after a mega-bookstore moves to the neighborhood. Romantically speaking, the ending is upbeat. But from the standpoint of independent bookstores, the outcome definitely disqualifies it for happily-ever-after status. Fifteen years after the film’s launch, many independents are still struggling to hold onto their share of sales to the book-reading public. Competition from chain bookstores and from Amazon’s on-line presence has decimated revenues. But despite the savings these behemoths pass along to consumers, some canny independents have managed to survive. And in the case of Barbara Theroux’s Fact & Fiction in Missoula, not just survive, but flourish. So, what differentiates Fact & Fiction from the scores of independent bookstores that have disappeared? The business’s mission statement, “Where books, authors, ideas and readers interact...” provides a clue. For many Missoulians, Fact & Fiction has become more than a shop to sit down with or buy paperbacks and hardcovers. “This place is personal. We’re building a community (Continued on page 27)