© 2024 Texas Public Radio
Real. Reliable. Texas Public Radio.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Texas Bookstores Celebrate Their Independence – And Resilience

BookPeople in Austin.
Michael Femia/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
BookPeople in Austin.

From Texas Standard:

It's not unheard of for an obituary to be published by mistake. A few years ago, People.com put up an  obit for actor Kirk Douglas, who – at 100 – is still alive.Something similar happened to Dallas-based  Half Price Books chain, Austin’s  BookPeople and independent bookstores across the country when the first e-reader made its debut. The death knell never rang so loud.

But it turns out bookstores aren't dead after all, at least not some of the best-known ones in Texas.

 

This weekend, several independent booksellers across Texas are celebrating the fact they've survived the e-book trend, and thanking the people who keep the shops going.  Texas Independent Bookstore Day – an idea BookPeople Director of Marketing Abby Fennewald says began with CEO Steve Bercu years ago – kicks off its inaugural event Saturday.With Half Price Books achieving  sales of $260 million last year, BookPeople experiencing growth and more small bookstores popping up around the state, Fennewald is optimistic about the future. Because of their adaptability, Fennewald says independent bookstores can remain successful.

Written by Louise Rodriguez.

Copyright 2020 KUT 90.5. To see more, visit KUT 90.5.

Rhonda is the newest member of the KUT News team, joining in late 2013 as producer for KUT's new daily news program, The Texas Standard. Rhonda will forever be known as the answer to the trivia question, “Who was the first full-time hire for The Texas Standard?” She’s an Iowa native who got her start in public radio at WFSU in Tallahassee, while getting her Master's Degree in Library Science at Florida State University. Prior to joining KUT and The Texas Standard, Rhonda was a producer for Wisconsin Public Radio.