SEE Magazine
Copyright © 1998. All Rights Reserved.
OPINION
BY TAMI OLIPHANTIn mid-May, an enterprising individual changed the sign on the soon-to-be-opened Chapters on Whyte Avenue to read "Crapters." Was this an act of a vandal or a visionary? The future of independent bookstores may be determined by the incursion of Chapters bookstores into urban centres. And the ramifications of the book wars could affect more than just the marketplace.
Chapters' expansion into Old Strathcona will be an ongoing concern for local retailers. There are eight locally-owned, independent bookstores within three blocks of the megastore. Chapters could threaten the future of all these businesses.
The independent stores have made Old Strathcona popular through hard work, store diversity and community involvement. However, their diligence may have worked against them. Now, after the groundwork has been laid and business is flourishing, the area is attracting superstores that want a piece of the pie.
In 1996, the Canadian government denied Borders, an American bookstore chain, the right to expand into Canada. The expansion was seen as a threat to the Canadian publishing industry. Chapters, which advertises itself as a Canadian Book Company, has side-stepped the issue. Barnes and Noble owns 20 per cent of Chapters Inc. This "passive" investment (Barnes and Noble is not involved in management or day-to-day operations) provided the means for this American company to gain access to Canadian book markets. In addition, the deal provides financial backing for Chapters outlets, to which independent booksellers don't have access.
The precedent has been set. In the U.S., over 250 independent bookstores have gone under since mid-1993. In Canada, Sandpiper Books, Calgary's largest independent bookstore, recently declared bankruptcy, along with Vancouver's Bollum Books and Toronto's Edwards Books and Art. The closures may not be directly attributed to Chapters but during this time, the chain opened 17 new stores. For Chapters, business is booming.
In the book business, size matters. Discounts are given by most publishers according to how many books a store orders. Independent bookstores can't compete with the huge volume of books Chapters orders and, therefore, don't receive the same discounted prices.
"Discounts are given by volume. It does give Chapters an advantage," Kenny Hawkins, owner of Clea's Bookshop in downtown Edmonton said. "I understand the concept of competition but it feels drastic."
Independents are cornered. With mainstream trade books cheaper at Chapters, independents are forced to rely on small-press, small-profit margin books for revenues. But independents need the revenue from mainstream books so they can offer alternative publications and local authors while still managing to stay afloat.
As Jacqueline Dumas, proprietor of Whyte Avenue's Orlando Books explained, "if small margin sales become a store's niche, it is much harder to survive."
Chapters stocks over 100,000 titles, which gives the impression of choice. But the bottom line dictates profits over carrying unknown authors or eclectic books. As the chains gain a larger share of the market, they also gain a greater say in what will be published. In the U.S. Grove Press cancelled a forthcoming title because Barnes and Noble decided not to carry the book.
On the other hand, an independent locally-owned bookstore may be more discriminating in its book selections. Dumas said, "if I can't keep going selling the kinds of books I believe in, I may struggle harder but I will not carry books like The Bell Curve or magazines like Alberta Report even if I can sell 100 copies of each."
Hawkins agrees. "Customers comment on our unique selection. Often what is said is that for such a little store, there is a lot of diversity." Local retailers know their clientele and are in a better position to tailor their inventory to the responses of the communities they serve.
"If the superchains don't make enough money and close their outlets, where does that leave the local poets and thinkers if the independents have long gone?" Dumas said.
In a worst case scenario, what is available to read could soon be in the hands of a small group of book-buying giants. The ramifications of this issue are important because we aren't talking about socks. What's at stake are ideas, literature, culture and intellectual freedom. If the independents go, the biggest losers in the book wars will ultimately be the public.
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