A Day for Supporting Local Bookstores Threatened by Online Shopping

A large wood-buring stove is shown in That Bookstore in Blytheville, Ark., on Dec. 15, 2002. Mary Gay Shipley opened the store when the only place for nearby farmers and their families to find books were the sparse shelves of the public library and a spinner rack of Westerns at the local five-and-dime. AP Photo/Tim Rand

Dear Editor,

Support your local bookstore on the second annual National Independent Bookstore Day, this coming May 2nd. Do the same during the other 364 days a year.

National Independent Bookstore Day began as the California Bookstore Day sponsored by the Northern California Bookstore Association on May 2, 2014. It was in response to more and more people purchasing books online from Amazon, other e-commerce stores, Barnes & Nobles, and Books a Million.

In these difficult economic times, it is especially important to patronize our few remaining neighborhood independent bookstores. Remember these people are our neighbors. They work long hours, pay taxes, and provide local employment. If we don’t patronize the few remaining local community bookstores, they will go the way of the dinosaur.

Buy and read a good book. It is health-food for the mind.

Sincerely,

Larry Penner Great Neck, N.Y.

Larry Penner is a transportation historian and advocate who previously worked in the transportation field for 31 years.