I wrote this essay for my Writing 121 class at RCC. It got an A-. The version I am posting here is slightly edited from the version I submitted to the teacher, though I only made small proofreading edits.
On book sellers and their mutuality
Book selling is serious business. Barnes & Noble, the largest bookstore chain in the US, has over 700 stores and collected $5.12 billion in revenue in 2009. But a monopoly they are not. Despite their behemoth nature, there is still plenty of room in the market for small mom and pop businesses. H Q Books in Medford has thrived for 22 years as an independent used bookstore. The two stores may appear to be rivals, but both are essential for the propagation of literature.
The Barnes & Noble bookstore is a wonder of the retail world. A homey atmosphere permeates the aisles of ambling patrons. A curious customer may gather a book or two from the shelf and casually course their way to a conveniently located couch to preview a potential purchase. A Starbucks cafe in the store provides another avenue for customers to take a beak from shopping or dig into their newly acquired novel while sipping coffee or enjoying a fresh pastry.
Knowledgeable clerks make finding an elusive title easier, or a more adventurous customer may traverse the expansive isles themselves. The books are categorized in clearly defined topics ranging from music history to detective fiction. Seasoned readers who may have already read the latest bestseller and all the classics may choose to broaden their horizons by checking out the selection of music CDs or DVDs. Children or families will appreciate the collection of casual board games and puzzles offered for sale.
The largest stores house up to 200,000 books, CDs, DVDs, games and magazines and their website claims to carry one million titles. Many out of print classics are reprinted via their Sterling Publishing branch. They also operate 600 college bookstores providing textbooks for millions of students.
H Q Books is located in Medford a mere block away from Barnes & Noble. Rather than competing the two stores offer complimentary products: new and used books. Open since 1989 H Q Books deal exclusively in used books; their entire stock consists of trade-ins from customers.
The shop is a modest affair typical of many small businesses. Basic white shelves hold up to 2,000 books consisting primarily of fiction with half a wall covered in non-fiction and a small corner inhabited by audiobooks. Paper signs hanging from the ceiling announce what genre area the customer is standing in and books stand in semi alphabetical order.
H Q offers a 25% of the cover price trade-in credit for trade-ins and sells the book at 50% of the cover price. They also offer 25-50% cash for books that are in high demand. To ensure a balanced inventory, they limit credit earned from highly saturated genres such as romance novels to only be used on other low demand books, however high demand items like audiobooks and non-fiction can be used to purchase nearly any item in store.
H Q Books is a family owned business operated entirely by Bob and Judy for 22 years. They have an impressive relationship with Barnes & Noble, one of mutual cooperation rather than fierce competition. When one store does not have what a customer is looking for they will often point them in the direction of their neighbor. These two book stores have a lot to offer the community; H Q donates any surplus stock to the White City Library and Barnes & Noble offers children’s story times, book drives and free wi-fi.
Bookstores aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Even with the growing popularity of e-book readers lovers of literature will stay devoted to the stalwart hardcover and the trusty paperback. These two stores fill two distinct, yet essential niches in the economy of prose.
