Second Story Book Shop, Bill & Hillary’s hometown bookstore in Westchester County (NY), is closing after 37 years.
“Our customer count is so far down, and I attribute that mostly to Amazon, and then you have the double whammy of the economy,” said Joan Ripley, 75, who began the shop above a shoe store (hence the name) and then moved to a spot off Chappaqua’s main drag, where it has operated with a devoted, knowledgeable staff and, out front, a weird totemlike figure of a gnomish man holding a stack of books.
“Especially for younger people, it’s like a game now: You look on the Internet and find where you get something for $10.29 here instead of $10.39 there. We can’t compete with that, but there are things you lose in ways that are not numerically measurable when a place like this closes,” she said.
independent book store in Wisconsin
I work at the oldest book store in Wisconsin, Conkeys. We are trying to hang in there too. So sorry about your book store, I hope that things work out somehow. We have gotten a lot of publicity and I think people are realizing that if they want to have a nice place to hang out, they have to support it and SHOP there! Good luck!