Support independent bookstores

Editor: This is in response to a column by Adam Stern in the Sacramento Bee on Feb. 22 concerning independent bookstores. I won’t attempt to list all the reasons we shop online, but we forget the cost of doing business via the internet.

Amazon is just one player (albeit the biggest) which offers hugely discounted prices on books, etc. but they do so for a reason. Amazon uses books as loss leaders to draw us in so we purchase other stuff. There are independent bookstores offering their products but even then they can’t compete with a billion-dollar corporation. There are hidden costs associated with purchases made on the internet: unsafe working conditions for employees; unwanted packing materials; ever present vans using up resources, etc. The unnoticed result is independent bookstores going out of business because they cannot compete with Amazon.

The bookstore offers the feel of books, the smell of pages, pleasurable browsing, ever present cats (who quite probably have read more books than I have and who can help find that book on pets). Memories are created when strolling among rows of authors telling their stories, creating pictures in the mind of places never traveled and sharing space with other like-minded community members. Scrolling on Amazon does not compare. When I’m shopping Tom’s Used Books I can cast aside all manner of problems and join the characters in the pages as they solve mysteries or explore ancient cultures in Africa.

Please read the above mentioned column by Adam Stern. He is much more adept in getting his message across when he writes, “the twin pillars of independent bookstores are browsing and community.” In Lodi we have many gems — among them is Tom’s on School Street. Support this store and in doing so, help our local merchants remain in our community.

DUANE WAHL

Lodi