Amazon is opening a bookstore in Nashville, and the city’s independent shops are bracing for impact – The Tennessean
Amazon is opening a bookstore in Nashville, and the city’s independent shops are bracing for impact The Tennessean
How will the Amazon Books store coming to The Mall at Green Hills impact Nashville’s independent bookstores?
The giant is coming.
Amazon plans to debut its brick-and-mortar Amazon Books concept at The Mall at Green Hills, and Nashville’s small independent bookstores are bracing for impact but hopeful their expertise and community-driven efforts will keep customers coming in the door.
“I’m not all that concerned about it. I think (Amazon Books) will get impulse buys there,” said Karen Hayes, co-owner of the popular Parnassus Books at 3900 Hillsboro Pike, directly across the street from the mall that will house Amazon Books. “I’m sure we will get a little incremental hit in sales, but I don’t think it’s going to be putting us out of business.”
Amazon has been quiet about its plans for an Amazon Books store in Nashville, although a company spokesperson confirmed the store is coming and hiring is underway. The first Amazon Books debuted in Seattle in 2015, and there are now 19 locations in the U.S. This will be the first Tennessee location.
The Amazon Books expansion to Nashville comes after the internet retailer selected Music City for its new Operations Center of Excellence planned for the Nashville Yards development downtown. The company plans to hire more than 5,000 local workers for that operation.
According to Amazon’s website, everything in the Amazon Books store is rated four stars and above or is a top seller or new release. Customers can also browse a selection of toys, games, electronics and home goods, including the latest Amazon tech devices.
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In the store, Amazon Prime members pay the same price they would pay online for items sold and shipped from Amazon.com. People can sign up for Prime memberships in-store to receive the discounted price on books and other items.
Hayes, who owns Parnassus with bestselling author Ann Patchett, said they’ve received a “wonderful outpouring of support” from the community since the Amazon Books store was announced.
“We really appreciate that. We have great, loyal customers,” Hayes said.
Parnassus, like many of Nashville’s independent bookshops, is much more than a store — it’s a community gathering spot. Hayes said they host more than 300 author events a year, in addition to story times for children, book clubs and other events. The friendly shop dogs roaming around the store have also become a customer favorite.
Joelle Herr, who debuted her independent bookstore The Bookshop (formerly Her Bookshop) in 2016 at 1043 W. Eastland Ave. in East Nashville, hopes her store’s distance from Green Hills will insulate her from the impact of an Amazon store.
“Parnassus has a very large and loyal customer base to cushion them from impact. Our cushion is the traffic-lined distance between East Nashville and Green Hills. At the moment, I choose to be hopeful that the impact on us both will be minimal. We shall see,” Herr wrote in an email.
Herr said independent bookstores can’t compete with Amazon on prices because books have a small profit margin and local booksellers rely mostly on book sales, while Amazon sells millions of products.
“Indies will never be able to compete on pricing because books are our main focus. We can’t lose money on them. People have become conditioned, though, to think that the list price of a book is somehow an upcharge. It’s not — it’s the value of the book,” Herr explained.
Like Parnassus, The Bookshop offers many free events for the community, in addition to hosting fundraisers for nonprofits. Herr, a longtime former book editor at various publishing houses, personally wades through books to find “unexpected gems” from little-known presses for her shop.
“We pride ourselves on our warm, friendly service, our unique curation, and on being a welcoming space to gather — a space of respite, of comfort — and where folks can perhaps hear a story and talk about books with other bibliophiles,” Herr said.
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Elder’s Bookstore owner Randy Elder, who lays claim to the title of “oldest bookstore in Tennessee,” is confident his store at 101 White Bridge Rd. offers an entirely different inventory than an Amazon Books store, but he lamented the direction many bookstores are headed with a focus solely on new releases and bestsellers.
“Bookstores, most bookstores, don’t have a large stock of out-of-print books. A bookstore is much more than the latest bestsellers. A bookstore is a wealth of information, much like a library, only the books are for sale,” Elder said.
His 79-year-old bookstore stocks many older and collectible books. Elder said his passion in life is helping people discover books — not simply making a sale — which he’s been doing nearly his entire life.
“I’m 75 years old. My willingness to stay in business has a lot to do with being able to deal directly with the public. In other words, the personal aspect to the business,” Elder said.
Reach Lizzy Alfs at lalfs@tennessean.com or 615-726-5948 and on Twitter @lizzyalfs.
Published 12:16 PM EDT Sep 20, 2019
