From Shelf Awareness, today's issue...

'Imagining the 21st Century's Digital Bookstore'


"As more and more Americans choose to order books online, or to switch to e-books, they don't need to patronize physical bookstores any longer. But any sales person ought to know that need and want are two different things.... I can find a much larger selection of books by firing up my Web browser than heading over to my local Borders, which is among those scheduled to close. I don't need that Borders in order to find and buy the books which interest me.

"But, as an enthusiastic reader, I want to have an excuse to get out of the house once in a while and spend some time alone with fresh books and magazines. My middle-school, book-worm daughter wants a place to hang out with her friends after school. No, we don't need a physical place to buy books any longer, but we want that alternative.... While it's nice to daydream as a consumer about the type of bookstore I want to see in my neighborhood, for publishers, a functional 21st-century physical bookstore isn't just a want, it's something we will continue to need."

--Robert Niles in his Online Journalism Review article, "Imagining the 21st Century's Digital Bookstore."

See?  Yet ANOTHER need vs. want discussion...  that applies to so many things in my life:  do I really NEED another muffin?  do I really NEED another set of scrapbooking stamps?  do I really NEED to buy that magazine?  (Yes.  Yes.  And yes again.)