As you soak all this in, take a long pull of your double cappuccino and a quick nibble of your chocolate biscotti. Under the effects of the chains' buying power and economic concentration, it will suffer from a lack of diversity and choice. That's the official position of the American Booksellers Association, a trade association that represents about 3,500 booksellers nationwide, as articulated by its chief executive officer, Avin Mark Domnitz, in Publishers Weekly. If they prevail, they will gain a permanent injunction against the alleged special treatment, be eligible for triple damages on each violation, and have their legal fees covered by the defendants. The ABA's public relations pitch about the case has focused on public-interest themes.
Independent booksellers bring diversity. . . .
But the booksellers are really motivated by economic self-interest. Between 1993 and 1997, the ABA's own membership declined by one-third. Indeed, the ABA has mastered the doublespeak of Robinson-Patman, which seeks to preserve competition by banning it. Of course, if everyone were doing business in the same way, it wouldn't make much sense to talk about competition. It also ignores two of the major trends in retailing over the past two decades, both of which illustrate how consumer demand creates marketplace diversity.