Main Street Books Owner Talks Shop Online

Browse here. Find it here. Buy it here. Keep it here: Vicki Erwin, owner of , has that four-part slogan displayed strategically in her store encouraging her customers to buy locally and support independent businesses.

But it isn’t the big box chain’s she is worried about. It’s the “A-word,” the omnipresent, ever-streamlining Amazon.com.

“Sometimes I feel like I am a showroom for Amazon anyway,” Erwin said. Customers sometimes browse her bookstore with smartphones in hand, checking online to see where they can get a better price. “To me, that is really just a hard thing. I don’t want to be rude because I want people to feel comfortable in my store...They are just looking for the best deal.”

Erwin talked about supporting local, independent bookstores on the children’s literature podcast Brain Burps for Books, produced by author and illustrator Katie Davis. (Erwin's interview starts at 13:22.)

Losing customers to a website is challenging, especially since most booksellers are motivated by a passion for reading, not for the salary.

“We do it because we love it and not because of the money,” Erwin said, adding that she gets excited when her revenues leave her with as little as a $500 paycheck. “I do not know one bookseller who does not work 10 to 12 hours a day.”

So Erwin and the united members of the St. Louis Independent Bookstore Alliance—formed to help indies share ideas and gain new customers—are finding new ways to draw in booklovers who might otherwise by online.

“The main thing that we offer is you can come in and talk to us face to face,” Erwin said. Amazon may offer suggestions based on your browsing history, but so can booksellers. Erwin said she likes to give new book suggestions based on the last book her customer says he or she read. “Give your independent bookseller a chance.”

Local bookstores have also put on events, such as author readings or even literary speed dating, where bibliophiles find dates based on their literary preferences.

Main Street Books recently added e-books to its inventory. Customers can buy Google E-books from the store’s website, and Erwin and her staff have a Nook and iPad on hand to show customers how to access them.

Erwin said she hopes readers in the St. Charles and St. Louis area will support local stores so there can be many flourishing booksellers in the area.

“The more places there are to get books…the better the business is going to be,” she said. “It’s not a good business if there’s only one place to go.”