Olsson’s Books and Records has shuttered their last four locations.

Remember, it may be cheaper to buy online or from a big box store, but you’ll never beat the locals for personal attention and local knowledge.

Local business owners are your neighbors. The same civic quality-of-life issues that matter to you matter to them.

If you don’t support them with your money*, they will fail.

Pardon me while I shed a few tears into my teacup…

*I am not suggesting that you spend your money unwisely. Obviously, if you can’t afford to buy a book at your local bookstore, you shouldn’t do so just to help keep them afloat. But I can live in a world without Amazon a whole lot more comfortably than I can in a world where small businesses are shuttered.

One of the main perks of living in a nation’s capital is that periodically there is an intersection between government, tourism, and residents. The Library of Congress’ National Book Festival down on the Mall is one such co-mingling.

An annual event for the past eight years, the Book Fest is a pet project of Laura Bush. It remains unclear whether the event will continue as the administration changes, but it was obvious from many of the remarks from authors and presenters that there is hope that funding will be found.
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