Murder Ink Bookstore To Close- Page 2

[tmm_fan]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 4:59pm

I subscribe to the newsletter for "Indies Under Fire," an awesome documentary on independent booksellers; the following text is from today's issue. Please read it y'all:

AN OPENING THOUGHT
Strolling down Valencia Street in San Francisco over the holidays, I was reminded again about why independent bookstores—and independent businesses in general—are so vital. I dropped into Modern Times and was confronted with books and magazines that I never would have found at a chain. The
place has a distinct feel—it could only be in San Francisco. I was watching my budget, and somehow escaped without buying anything, but wandered over to Aquarius Records, where my discipline broke down. As I read the lengthy reviews scrawled in tiny (but incredibly neat) handwriting on the display CDs, I got excited about the music, knowing that the person on the other side of the counter really cared about what they were doing.
The passion in these places is infectious. I felt good just being there.

In some ways, this is the worst of times. Just read this
Reuters "Competition Is Killing Independent US Bookstores " article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061226/media_nm/usa_bookstores_dc

and it's hard to feel optimistic. But this is not the whole story. New independent bookstores are opening up all the time, 97 alone across the States in 2006, as profiled in this BookWeb article:

http://news.bookweb.org/4955.html

One thing is clear: if we want these special places to survive, we have to support them by buying locally.

[suzycat]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 7:19pm

I was just thinking this thread needed a bump :) Thanks tmm.

[tmm_fan]

Posted: 1/16/07 at 3:04am

np ... by God, as long as I am here, this thread -- and the Towerr Records one -- will never die :).

Indie bookstore sales during the holidays were better than last year:

http://news.bookweb.org/news/4954.html

And nearly 100 new independent booksellers opened up in 2006! This is such awesome news. The fight is far from over, and it is ongoing, but the outlook is not as bleak as it seemingly once was.

[tmm_fan]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 11:40am

Just when you thought this thread was dead...

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 12:18pm

Damn, another part of the New York that I loved is going away...

[tmm_fan]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 7:00pm

Precisely why threads like these need to be kept alive; new users are always discovering them, and more and more people need to be made aware of these vital issues.

Please, please, "please," y'all: forego Borders, Barnes & Noble, Target, Costco, etc, and buy your books from independents. Gigantic conglomerates use propaganda on radio, TV, at concerts (I go to a lot of alternative music concerts, and see this everywhere with young teens), etc to brainwash you all ("manufacturing consent" is what this type of propaganda is called), and people need to realize this, quit being so gullible and naive, and start doing the right -- the moral and ethical -- thing.

[tmm_fan]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 7:53pm

bump bump bump bump bump bump bump

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 7:55pm

"people need to realize this, quit being so gullible and naive, and start doing the right -- the moral and ethical -- thing. "

When did you become the arbiter of what is moral and immoral?

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:12pm

Look, I love independent bookstores and resturants and such. And I only buy things from Barnes and Noble on occassion.

But what in the world does it have anything to do with morals and ethics?

So someone wants to spend a little less on a CD at Borders one day instead of buying it at a higher price at some independent record store?

How is being economical suddenly immoral or unethical?

I totally agree that small bookstores, shops, etc are endagered and that is a shame and they need to be saved, but saying that shopping at Barnes and Noble or Borders is unethical is extreme.

[Renthead#1]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:13pm

O **** not another one.

[tmm_fan]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:17pm

What is progress? Is it plopping a Wal-Mart or Borders down and forcing small indie stores to close mostly by enticing a naive public with cheap prices and/or great deals? Or would we rather have progress be expanding a store that adds character to a community and/or contributes to the community?

I would rather have the latter ... for only then do we have progress.

Too many people are being brainwashed. Those idiotic Verizon Wireless radio ads are the greatest example ... the girl and guy literally speak to us as if we're brain-dead idiots; like we're robots. And yet, teens fall for them. There was even one where the whole point of the commercial was that dads are so old they don't know how to operate one of today's cellphones and thus are dumb ... the subliminal message here is: purchase the cellphone by whatever means possible, even if it means going behind your parents back.

And of course, crap like this has an extreme ripple effect on society as a whole. Today's society is a lot worse off than say the '50's and '60's, and this is a big part of why.

Updated On: 3/24/07 at 08:17 PM

[Renthead#1]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:19pm

U said it

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:20pm

So again, tell me, why is shopping at a Wal-Mart immoral?

Becuase you really didn't answer mine or Priest's question in your post.

[tmm_fan]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:20pm

Thank You! :)

[tmm_fan]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:24pm

Read my previous post ... "and" ... Wal-Marts healthcare sucks, they treat employees like crap, all the overseas crap, out of all huge conglomerates, they ruin small towns the most, etc, etc.

No wonder city councils have voted them out.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:26pm

"Today's society is a lot worse off than say the '50's and '60's"

That is a completely subjective statement. Worse off in what ways?

Look, stores like Barnes and Nobles and Borders and Starbucks and such are here and they are her to stay. That's a fact. Smaller stores are going to have to learn to deal with that, however unfair it is.

Those stores offer lower prices. By using somewhat underhand pricing tactics? Sure, sometimes.

If someone shops at, say, an independent record store to buy their more obscure CDs but shops at Borders to buy the new Norah Jones and Dixie Chicks CD in order to save money, how in the world can you honestly saw that that makes them an immoral person??

Updated On: 3/24/07 at 08:26 PM

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:27pm

Your previous post says nothing about morals. And, again, I ask, why should YOU get to tall me what is moral? If I want to get the Grey Gardens CD, for example, is it "immoral" for me to but it on Amazon, because i can't find it in any store, indie or otherwise? Or should I just not have it because I can't buy in in a "moral" place.

[tmm_fan]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:35pm

I ask again ... is progress expanding stores that add character and/or contribute to a community? Or is progress betting on the gullibilty of a naive public? You look back to the old days ... everybody was nicer; the night watchman or custodian would sometimes let you into a store or bowling alley (they do that today, and a job is at risk); stores competed, but it was a lot more fair and friendly-like; companies didn't use extreme and awful tactics to lure people.

When people refer to this as a simpler time, there is a reason.

[tmm_fan]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:37pm

If your brain cannot comprehend my previous more lengthy post and you wannas point out small technicalities instread of realizing the whole picture, that's your problem.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:40pm

Why did you just need to insult my intelligence? I did read your post, and I found nothing in it adressing my question.

[tmm_fan]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:43pm

Not outright, but if you think about it, I do answer your question.

And I honestly didn't think I was insulting you; if I did insult you, I apologize.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:48pm

You know, I read your post three times, but I still don't see how you answered my question. You talk about progress in your post, not morals, and I don't see how progress connects to morality.

And, if you say you weren't insulting me, I believe you. I take back what I said.

[tmm_fan]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:53pm

Thanx

And I don't know how else to say it ... progress does have to do with morals. Supporting progress, especially in ones community, is all about ones moras and ethics.

Updated On: 3/24/07 at 08:53 PM

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:57pm

So if a single mother of two can barely make ends meet, so she shops somewhere where she can save a few bucks, she is immoral and unethical.

Got it.

[tmm_fan]

Posted: 3/24/07 at 8:59pm

I never said that ... I totally understand if you can only afford to shop at Wal-Mart or Costco.