On the Closing of a Bookshop

ERRATA: Nat Herold, referred to below as an employee of Valley Books, is actually the co-owner of Amherst Books.

********************************

After 34 years Valley Books of Amherst, MA, one of the oldest used and antiquarian bookshops in New England, is closing.

Owner Larry Pruner says "Every good thing has to come to an end, and when it's no longer a good thing, it comes to an end sooner."

He then shares this:

"The used book business is like an ecosystem that's been thrown off balance by e-books, the Internet and the recession. It's hammering away at a world that used to exist but doesn't in the same form anymore."

Nat Herold, an employee at Valley Books added this nugget:

"The Internet has made everyone more cosmopolitan, but it has made Amherst more parochial"

This really is, in many ways, an unprecedented time in the history of bookselling.


Full story at Amherst Bulletin