Indie Bookstores - What are They Good For?

Boston is one of the main battlefields of the epic book superstore vs. indie bookstore battle that currently rages through America. Bostonist assumes that this is the case because this town is perhaps the only place where the indies have a fair shot at winning - people in Boston do love the high-brow experience of an indie bookstore, particularly if they can throw around a few snooty comments about how much they prefer the indies to the chains. Harvard Book Store and Brookline Booksmith - the two Boston stalwarts indies - seem to be faring rather well against their behemoth neighbors, while the last few years has seen the closing of Wordworth, Globe Corner Bookshop (to reopen soon at 90 Mt. Auburn in Harvard Square), and Tatnuck in Worcester.

So Bostonist was intrigued to see the article in Slate this morning in which Tyler Cowen proposes that there's nothing that special about indie bookstores apart from their customer service and cozy atmosphere. (Um, duh?) Cowen is an econ professor and thereby most likely does not have feelings, so we have to take his “I'm-a-capitalist-hear-me-roar” piece with a grain of salt, but he comes uncomfortably close to the nail's head when he points out that indie bookstores are just as profit-driven (and sometimes cutthroat) as their superstore neighbors. Harvard Book Store, after all, has the Frequent Buyer Card, which fits nicely in your wallet next to your CVS card, Stop&Shop card, and other mass consumer cards. And Brookline Booksmith is giving away a plasma tv at an author event this week, albeit due to a publisher's mandate. Perhaps Cowen is right, and even indie bookstores are shamelessly out for your money, or perhaps these poor noble enterprises are just trying to survive. Either way, perhaps you should take your halo down a notch when you walk into an indie.

Post contributed by Janet Potter