“Buy from bookstores or they’ll disappear!”

Above, the entrance to Kinokuniya Bookstores' Little Tokyo Store. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Since the advent of online book retailers such as Amazon.com and others, the "old school" brick & mortar bookstores are going out of business across America.

This is also true for Japanese bookstores. RocketNews24 has posted an article on the plight of bookstores in Japan due to the aforementioned online retailers and, also, ebooks.

They wrote:

As we’ve seen in many locales, the rise of e-book readers and online retailers has opened up access to more and cheaper books for the average person. And with improved distribution, it’s a matter of days–at most–from the time you click “purchase” to the time your new books arrive on your doorstep. 

Japan, though initially resistant, has proven not much different. Amazon Japan and Rakuten both have e-book readers and both sell books at prices lower than what you’ll usually find in a store, especially small-to-mid-sized retailers and specialty stores. 

In fact, Mainichi Shinbun recently reported on the closing of some of these smaller stores, marking the shift in the retail landscape from brick-and-mortar stores to digital retailers. In the thirteen years between 2000 and 2013, 34 percent of the bookstores in Japan were shuttered. 

Even large chain stores are struggling to keep up with Internet retailers. It seems that the only way for large chains like Maruzen and Kinokuniya to stay competitive is to maintain enormous stocks of books on hand–which can get expensive quickly. Whether or not it’s an effective tactic remains to be seen.

Personally, I use online booksellers as a last resort if my local favorite bookstore(s) doesn't have a particular book in stock I'm looking for. I also enjoy perusing bookstores (time seems to go by very fast while browsing around), especially used bookstores. Quite often, I would be in a bookstore and happen to spot a book that I either didn't know existed or knew the title of. So I'll buy it right on the spot. Going and buying online does not provide that kind of experience.

Above, Kinokuniya's travel section in their Little Tokyo store.  Photo by Amber Vaquer.

As the title of RocketNews24 article says, "“Buy from bookstores or they’ll disappear!” Frustrated bookseller implores crowd on final day of business."

To read the article, go here.