Neighborhood bookstores are fading out like candles. The fiscal policy of recent years, combined with the relentless push of platforms like Amazon, has turned these spaces into museum pieces. The reader prefers the comfortable click to a walk in the rain, and the result is a sector bleeding copies without remedy.
The algorithm that devours the cardboard storefront 🤖
Technology is not neutral here. The recommendation systems of large platforms push the user toward immediate and cheap consumption, leaving out small bookstores that cannot compete with dynamic pricing or express logistics. Meanwhile, sales data is centralized on foreign servers, and the lifelong bookseller loses the pulse of the market. The digital transition was not an option; it was a sentence.
The smell of a new book doesn't pay the VAT 📚
Now it turns out that strolling between shelves smelling paper is a luxury from another century. The bookseller, that gentleman who recommended readings without asking for your bank details, has been replaced by a chatbot that suggests the same bestseller as to your neighbor. At least the algorithm doesn't give you a dirty look if you browse a book and don't buy it. Or so we believe.