How Amazon.com is thriving in a horrendous retail climate

Re:How Amazon.com is thriving in a horrendous retail climate by gravitycop on Friday February 06, 2009 @06:15PM (#470540)

I do feel bad for not helping out the bookstore

Why would one want to help out a bricks-and-mortar bookstore?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Amazon.com is thriving in a horrendous retail climate by kqr2 on Friday February 06, 2009 @06:32PM (#470561)

He discovered the book at the bricks-and-mortar bookstore so its beneficial to help them out once in a while. Even though I buy a lot of books online, I still discover a lot of things by good old fashioned book browsing.

For me, if the book is under $10, I usually buy it locally; otherwise I order it online.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Amazon.com is thriving in a horrendous retail climate by unalone on Friday February 06, 2009 @06:29PM (#470556)

Because bookstores form communities around them? I went to a book discussion club at Barnes & Noble for half a year when I was younger.

Or perhaps because the people who open non-chain bookstores are avid readers, often obsessed with helping out a community, and they love what they do, despite the fact that it's not exactly an easy business?

I know we're cool and new-wave but it's one thing to say Amazon's good. It's another to question why somebody would want to help out a business model that's never been lucrative, whose practitioners more often than not do it for the joy of helping people find a good read.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Amazon.com is thriving in a horrendous retail climate by ijntybvrt on Friday February 06, 2009 @06:36PM (#470570)

>Because bookstores form communities around them? The same Waterstones/B+N who destroyed the small bookstores by voiding the net book price agreement are now complaining that Amazon are undercutting them. And small bookstores by selling used books on amazon are doing better than ever!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Amazon.com is thriving in a horrendous retail climate by gravitycop on Friday February 06, 2009 @06:55PM (#470595)

http://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc

Blank lines separate paragraphs.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Amazon.com is thriving in a horrendous retail climate by Zev on Friday February 06, 2009 @09:59PM (#470739)

Because there are some awesome indie bookstores (If anyone is on Long Island or NYC area, check out Book Revue in Huntington) that are, unfortunately, going out of business.

Barnes & Noble or Borders are hardly the only physical dead tree bookstores out there.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:How Amazon.com is thriving in a horrendous retail climate by tokenadult on Friday February 06, 2009 @06:27PM (#470554)

Because the browsing experience is different at brick-and-mortar bookstores from that at online bookstores. I love the way Amazon reads my mind and suggests products based on what I've bought before, but I've also discovered cool books by chance glances at the shelves at the local Barnes and Noble, so I still shop there too.

[ Parent | on HN ]