Since 1998, U.S. bookstores have decreased by over 50%, falling from 12,151 to 6,045 in 2019. Andy Hunter identified an existential threat to bookstores, attributing their decline to the rise of Amazon, which controls a significant share of book sales. Bookstores serve as community advocates for reading, and their extinction threatens cultural engagement with literature. Hunter's awareness of this crisis prompted him to found Bookshop.org, aiming to support independent bookstores and mitigate the impact of ecommerce on local book communities.
Bookstores are advocates and activists for the importance of reading in all their communities. As those start to die out, the importance of books in our culture also starts to recede.
The number of U.S. bookstores decreased more than 50% in the span of about two decades, falling from 12,151 in 1998 to 6,045 in 2019.
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