"The Next Big Thing: A Bookstore?"
Magazine article
By: Michael H. Martin
Date: December 9, 1996
Source: Martin, Michael H. "The Next Big Thing: A Bookstore?" Fortune 134, December 9, 1996, 168–170.
Introduction
Most people bought books in traditional, brick-and-mortar stores before the growth of the Internet. Prior to the 1990s there were chain bookstores; however, most bookstores were small and locally owned. Many publishers were also small or independently owned prior to the 1990s. As the Internet grew and as business practices changed, the world of bookselling also changed.
Publishing changed during the 1990s with mergers of smaller independents and with large companies. For example, the German company Bertelsmann bought the larger publisher Random House. As the publishers began being purchased, the competition of bookselling narrowed.
Bookstores were slow to join the e-commerce and...
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1990's Media Primary Sources
The 1990's: Primary Sources
