The success of independent bookstores is of paramount importance, as their survival benefits all of us. Please keep all this in mind when choosing where to purchase books—there's a hidden cost to those discounts from Amazon. But we should be engaging as citizens, not just consumers, to maintain a rich diversity of choices and ensure our children have the opportunity to be entrepreneurs, not just wage workers for Corporate America.

Something to consider!

Is Barnes & Noble any better; what are our alternatives?

Do not buy anything from or in any way contribute to the profits of Barnes & Noble—one of the major media monopoly controls freak in the publishing distribution industry. Please don't invest in books at a profit level through them—I did and got burnt, esentially selling books for months at a loss through them.

They undercut the little publishers out there, and the independent bookstores as well. Sure it might be somewhat more expensive, but... we'll all be better off -- think of it as in invesment in diversity, protecting your ability to have access to the books you want.

I just compared amazon.com, bn.com and powells.com for a fairly new hardcover book (Teacher Man by Frank McCourt.)

Amazon—$17.16
Free shipping over $30

Barnes & Noble
$18.20, $16.38 with membership card
Free shipping over $25

Powells
$26.00 (list price)
No free shipping information

Powell's isn't that competitive, 33% more than Amazon. Now I respect the independents, but that seems like quite the premium, not "somewhat more expensive".

Providing books from a bricks-and-mortar store (like Powell's) is inevitably more expensive than providing them directly from warehouses; but there may be offsetting advantages, some of which I've outlined above. While the comparison is a fair snapshot regarding a frontlist _title_ just released, it is also important to consider that Powell's will have used copies in no time that will rival those of Bn.com and Amazon, let alone access to countless other _title_s that are in- and out-of-print all in one general location. By the way, shipping is free for $50 orders according to their website.

And I'm only using Powell's as an example, by no means do I endorse them over any other independent.

I'll endorse Powell's–there is, as far as I know, only one unionized bookstore on the web, and that's Powells. Even better, if you connect to Powell's via the union's website (by going first to www.powellsunion.com ) and then click on the _link_ for Powell's books, you'll be directly supporting Powell's workers.