That's great that Amazon is opening a book store. I don't think they're dying, I think it depends on where you live. Here in CO book stores thrive. We have many Barnes and Nobles and I love them. I just don't have money to spend on books very often. They're pretty expensive just for one.
I think bookstores will now have a novelty aspect to them. Something that you will go to for the physical experience of browsing books, sitting down for a cup of coffee (which is why the Barnes and Noble / Starbucks partnership works so well), and of course that "new book" smell. People will go to a bookstore in order to have all of their physical sense involved. Similar to how people will go to the Disneyland, in spite of the fact that you can watch Disney movies at home or order Disney products online. In fact, I guess an even simpler analogy is why people go to the movies, when you can just wait a little bit and watch the movie on Netflix, Starz, or on demand. It's more the whole experience of going to the movie itself. I think as long as a bookstore is like an "experience," it can last as a business that way.
The last bookstore we had here in town was Barnes and Nobles at our mall. It was taken out about two years ago. It seems with Kindles and ebooks, these bookstores are becoming obsolete.
Bookstores are a sanctuary. I've often go to them not to buy anything, but to browse and become centered. I never had a doubt that book stores would survive. Even with the onset of Amazon and similar sites, and E-books. I knew that bookstores would shrink in numbers, but never disappear, because there will always be people who like to go and browse the aisles for hours among fellow book lovers.
I love bookstores and am still mourning the loss of Borders books, but by the same token, since there are none near me I haven't been to a real bookstore in ages. Next time I am in a more urban area I am going to make a point of stopping in one. I know where there is a large Barnes and Nobles. The US doesn't seem to have as many small independent bookstores as the UK does.
When the kindle first came out, however many years ago it is now, a lot of people thought that would herald the death of the traditional paper books and also the bookstores aswell. That hasn't been the case though and while many people have switched to electronic books, a lot of people still prefer to read the paper editions instead.
I prefer reading an actual book over an e-book any day. I still use the library. I know the business at the bookstores isn't like it used to be. I noticed it while I was shopping over the holidays. All the other stores were packed full of shoppers and the bookstore had a hand full of people, mostly just browsing.
Bookstores aren't dying, but a lot of the bigger chains are putting the mom and pop shops out of business. At the same time, they are also putting other big chains out of business because there are so many stores who offer barely used books for such a discount now.
I used to work in a bookstore chain which also sold stationary and other things. Book sales were quite low compared to our other products. Most people seemed to pop in for a newspaper or snack on there break. Maybe it was because this store as located in a small area, however there were many times the shop was completely empty and there did end up being redundancies.
Amazon's store makes sense but I do think book stores with higher prices and smaller populations will fail unless they make a lot of money on other products. Most book sales will likely fall once 2000+ generation matures. They are so used to digital products, physical paper won't be the preferred book.
