Independent Bookstore Back in Town Text by Joanne M. Anderson
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Statistics on independent bookstores seem to be all over the map, but according to the American Booksellers Association, there are 2,321 indie booksellers. A couple surprises have unfolded since the 1970s when most bookstores were independent. Then with indoor mall construction came national chains like B. Dalton and Waldenbooks. Fast forward to the ‘90s when Books-A-Million, Borders and Barnes & Noble built massive freestanding bookstores with coffee shops inside. When amazon.com came alive in 1995, independent booksellers dropped by 40% across the next five years. The Kindle was introduced in 2007 and that, it was thought, would spell doom for books, the real ones with paper pages. Amazon. com may have destroyed some of the book chains, but in the last dozen years, independent booksellers have increased by 40%. According to one NPR (National Public Radio) interview, real estate developers are embracing the independent bookstore. And herein lies the explanation. Where malls are anchored with well-known national chain stores – think: Kohls, Belk, Dick’s Sporting Goods – vibrant communities are anchored with … [drumroll] … independent bookstores! As stated by Paddy Hirsch of NRP News: “The indie bookstore is marching triumphantly into the very place that once threatened to destroy it. They have returned to dance on the ashes of Borders and Waldenbooks. Now, that's a great twist.” And one of those great twists, Blacksburg Books, opened in downtown Blacksburg on Aug. 6 this year, thanks to the efforts, work, dreams and community spirit of one Laurie Kelly. “When my husband and I relocated to Blacksburg seven years ago, I noted the absence of an 42
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independent bookstore,” she recalls. As a lawyer and mom of three teenagers, time might be tight, but her passion for literature and dream of a book shop propelled her to begin planning. “The inventory began with books my husband and I had amassed over the years and my neighbor’s collection. She was an elderly woman who had been an educator and a reader all her life. We became friends, and when she died, her son gave me her books which I put in a storage unit. One day I saw a thread on the Facebook group “Everything Blacksburg” about how many people wanted a used bookstore in Blacksburg. I mentioned I was building an inventory to open one.” Her post generated lots of excitement with people asking if they could donate books. Laurie spent months collecting boxes and bags of books from very generous folks. Once she located space on S. Main St., at the far end of the Nov/Dec 2021
