One of America’s last great independent bookstores — Elliott Bay Books — closed tonight. (Powell’s in Portland is still open, at least.)
The story is here.
They’re reopening in a smaller location, a bit off the beaten track compared to where they were… but at considerably less rent, too.
They were — and will be again — a terrific place for a bibliophile.
I’m an author who has sold far more books through Amazon.com than through bricks-and-mortar establishments, but I still believe the world needs — needs — real bookstores.
(And libraries. Right now, I’m at our place on very rural Lopez Island about 70 miles north of Seattle — but it somehow has one of the country’s great libraries, recognized by whatever association rates public libraries. It’s a real treasure… as is the independent bookstore in the village, Islehaven Books With Borzoi. Yes, that’s its name. And the borzoi sleeps behind the counter. Things are different up here, one reason I treasure this place.)
