Borders Closes Stores in 200-Plus Cities: What Lies on the Retail Horizon?
It is this ability of independent stores to gauge their markets that gives them an advantage, he adds, as well as provide a rewarding browsing experience.
The "Neighborhood Bookstore Development Bank"
McKeown believes shrinking book superstores have opened up a window for independent booksellers able to capitalize on the opportunity. "The Borders phenomena has created a sense of urgency about this," he says. "Hundreds of markets are potentially without a bookstore for the first time in 40 or 50 years." In an essay written with Don Linn, "Will Independent Bookstores Seize the Day?", he proposed a financing entity modeled after recent initiatives to fund neighborhood grocery stores, a Neighborhood Bookstore Development Bank (NBDB). McKeown and Linn believe such an entity could provide capital to a "new generation" of bookstore owners, as well as those looking to expand existing operations, and call on organizations such as the American Booksellers Association, Ingram and Baker & Taylor to support the effort.