Most retail sectors lose many outlets when smaller independent shops lose out to superstores.
Despite the often-publicized accounts of shop closings by independents, book retailers have fared far better than most. The superstore phenomenon, which has been underway for years in book retailing, appears to have expanded the number of outlets and has helped to more than triple the number of book retailers since 1975. Nationally, the American Booksellers Association estimated a loss of no more than 60 independent bookstores in 1996. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.