In the movie “You’ve Got Mail,” Tom Hanks played aggressive big- box retailer Joe Fox driving out of business a little bookshop owner played by Meg Ryan. Twelve years later, it may be Joe Fox’s turn to worry. Readers have gone from skipping small bookstores to wondering if they need bookstores at all.
In the first five months of 2009, e-books made up 2.9 percent of trade book sales. In the same period in 2010, sales of e-books, which generally cost less than hardcover books, grew to 8.5 percent, according to the Association of American Publishers.
“The shift from the physical to the digital book can pick up some of the economic slack, but it can’t pick up the loss that is created when you don’t have the customers browsing the displays,” said Laurence Kirshbaum, a literary agent. “We need people going into stores and seeing a book they didn’t know existed and buying it.”
Barnes & Noble chief executive William Lynch said the chain is retooling stores to build traffic, add products such as educational toys and games, and emphasize its e-reader, the Nook. The New York Times; Associated Press photo illustration
