Bookstore Business Booms as Sales Soar
By Movieguide® Contributor
In an age of online everything, brick-and-mortar bookstores are gaining popularity again.
“It’s [already] made a comeback,” Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt said when asked about the book retailer’s resurgence. He also mentioned that he wants to create smaller “indie” bookstores: “We gave back our stores to our store teams to organize themselves, display books, whatever they like.”
Barnes & Noble will open 60 new bookstores across the nation, thanks to “experiencing strong sales in its existing stores.” The number sets a new record for most stores opened since 2007.
The chain’s comeback has Daunt’s leadership to thank.
After being named CEO in 2019, “Daunt quickly got to work implementing a lot of tried-and-true business strategies (like scooping up affordable retail space across the country) and new strategies (he ended publisher deals that accepted payments for featuring books and allowed individual B&N locations to build their own curated displays based on their local communities, customer interests and current trends via social media outlets like TikTok and Instagram),” Women’s World said.
Major retailers aren’t the only ones booming; over 300 independent bookstores opened throughout the country in 2023, TODAY said.
It’s encouraging to see a renewed interest in reading as the hobby — especially if it isn’t on a screen — offers several health benefits.
“Studies have shown reading helps reduce stress, likely because it requires concentration and focus. Researchers at the University of Sussex found that participants who read for just six minutes experienced reduced muscle tension and a slower heart rate,” Piedmont reported.
Reading can also improve sleep, your mind and your relationships.
“Reading about people who are different from us can help us understand another person’s life experience and give us gratitude for our own life experience,” said Angela Buttimer of Thomas F. Chapman Family Cancer Wellness at Piedmont. “It’s also helpful to read books about people who have gone through the same things we have. They may have a way of describing their experience that helps us articulate our own experience.”
So whether you cozy up this holiday season with a book at home or in your local bookstore, you have many benefits to look forward to!
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