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Another victim
Jan. 30th, 2008 11:40 amThe oldest bookstore in Canada, the Book Room, is going to close at the end of March. I guess that's another victim of the "big box" stores and online shopping. This is a sad thing but I guess i'm part of the problem. I shop online or at Chapters for my books because i can get better deals. The Bookroom is a lovely independent store and does have some good selections that are not that easy to find elsewhere but you don't get the sales like you do online or at Chapters where they sell most top 40 bestsellers in hardback at 30% off, with an extra 10 percent if you're a Chapters/Indigo cardholder. They have rows of discontinued books. Fiction in hardback for less than the cost of a paperback these days. Sometimes it's hard to support the little guy when the big guy saves you money.
Another thing that happened is that the Canadian dollar is now pretty much at par with the American dollar. When you see a hard cover book priced nearly 10 dollars more for Canada than the US published price, and you know the exchange rate, even if you add in the shipping costs, should still make the Canadian price a lot less, then it's hard to swallow that purchase. The Warehouse type stores like Chapters and Costco as well were selling books for the American price or giving big discounts that the small store just can't afford to do.
People also find downtown accessibility too difficult and expensive when the big stores and malls have large free parking lots. There aren't too many independent bookstores around Halifax as it is and at the end of March there will be one less.
Another thing that happened is that the Canadian dollar is now pretty much at par with the American dollar. When you see a hard cover book priced nearly 10 dollars more for Canada than the US published price, and you know the exchange rate, even if you add in the shipping costs, should still make the Canadian price a lot less, then it's hard to swallow that purchase. The Warehouse type stores like Chapters and Costco as well were selling books for the American price or giving big discounts that the small store just can't afford to do.
People also find downtown accessibility too difficult and expensive when the big stores and malls have large free parking lots. There aren't too many independent bookstores around Halifax as it is and at the end of March there will be one less.
