Amazon killed the bookstore stars

Dutton’s Bookstore in LA is closing its doors this month. So sad, since while at UCLA I’ve spent many of hours at this great personable and comfy store. So many amazing book events occurred here, and you really got a sense that all the visitors really cherished this gem of a bookstore. I loved that I could walk (yes even in LA) to this store and get lost in the books.

A great photo of owner Doug Dutton amidst his volumes of books. On his bookstore’s website, Dutton acknowledges the changing landscape of the book market and physical stores:

It is no secret that the store today is a shadow of its former self. Given our situation as it now stands, the pride we feel in our past achievements, and the vagaries of the current book market, shuttering our doors seems the only realistic solution…The one certainty that we have relied upon for our many years at this location is the honest and dedicated support by this community to the value of books and bookstores in general, and to this one in particular.

While the beloved store-front store is closing, the virtual bookstore of Barnes & Noble is utilizing new functionalities to capture consumers. Original multimedia content will be updated constantly and will “do for the book what the cooking show did for the recipe.”