Darian Kuxhouse, Campus Carrier Opinions Editor

Independent bookstores, or indie bookstores, are the bread and butter of the literary community. It’s at indie bookstores where you can lounge on couches and listen to visiting authors. It’s at indie bookstores where you can find an eclectic mix of classics alongside local writing. It’s at indie bookstores where you can find a community of passionate readers who, like you, enjoy the intimacy of perusing bookshelves in search of new finds.

However, indie bookstores are facing an uphill battle to stay afloat with chain and online competitors such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Not only are chain bookstores taking away customers, but Amazon has become increasingly aggressive with its attempts to take over the book buying market.

Amazon’s Kindle revolutionized the way people bought books. You can purchase books from your couch and, to combat the advantage of bookstores, you can even read the first chapter before buying to make sure that you really want it.

While these advancements are great for online readers, Amazon didn’t stop there. According to Forbes, Amazon released a price checking app that would allow customers to scan the barcode of a product and then compare the prices directly to Amazon’s. This caused a huge backlash from retailers, specifically indie bookstore owners.

This app is yet another move that better allows Amazon to monopolize the book buying industry. There is no denying that Amazon has made it cheaper and easier to buy books, but indie bookstores are about more than just purchasing books. It’s important to know that Amazon isn’t the end of local retailers and there are still ways to support your local, independent bookstores.

IndieBound is a website that collaborates with the independent bookstore members of the American Booksellers Association. The site empowers people to shop locally. Their website says that buying locally helps in three facets – the economy, the environment and the community.

By shopping locally, more of the money you spend goes back into your community and bookstores are able to create more employment opportunities. The environment benefits because there is no need for shipping and packaging, so there is less of a carbon footprint left behind.

Also, local retailers are your friends and neighbors, local businesses donate to charities at more than twice the rate of national chains and more independents means more choice, more diversity and a truly unique community.

The retailers themselves also need to stop trying to compete with Amazon, says Janaka Stucky from the Poetry Foundation. She writes, “In the 21st century, the service a bookstore provides isn’t just book-selling; it’s being the cultural center that book lovers need in their communities.

Unless bookstores can not only acknowledge their role as beacons of culture, but really embrace that role and market themselves as such — as long as they try in vain to compete with one of the world’s largest retailers at its own game — they will slowly lose ground.”

There are ways for indie bookstores to succeed. In addition to new books, offering selections of used books at good prices will boost sales. There are stores that offer online purchases and local delivery such as the Harvard Bookstore and the Brookline Booksmith, according to Stucky. Also, hosting readings will draw in community members and add to the unique atmosphere of indie stores.

There are a few indie bookstores here in Rome, and two on Broad Street alone. I’m most drawn to Dogwood Books, but I highly encourage everyone to take a look inside these eclectic bookstores. Whether it’s a leather bound copy of Hamlet or a hand bound poetry chapbook, you never know what you’ll find.