COLUMBIA, S.C. — Brick and mortar stores are on the rise again with book stores in Columbia.
Ed's Editions Bookstore in West Columbia has been in business for 21 years, and says it has always been a fight to stay relevant.
"There's been all kinds of stuff, you know with the creation of the internet, it changed everything," explained store manager, Eric Albritton. "What used to be a much more localized kind of business became something international."
According to the U.S. Census in 1998 there were 12,000 book stores nationwide, however that number dropped to 6,000 in 2019.
Despite the steady decline in the number of bookstores, bookstore sales increased from $12 billion in 1997, to to $16.8 billion in 2007, according to the economic census. Bookstore sales then started dropping to $11 billion in 2012 and to $10 billion in 2017.
"You went from having a lot of old school sellers to if stores weren't changing with the times, then they were closing their doors," Albritton explained.
Although the market selling books has not always been easy to navigate, new bookstore owners like Ben Adams are taking their chances.
"Half the people I talked to before opening thought it was a great idea and half thought that bookstores are dead," Adams recalled. "I came to realize I don't need 100% support to do my thing, as long as I have a core following I'm good, and that's what I found even before I started."
Adams opened Odd Bird Books in February of 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. His store was able to survive through online sales, and book deliveries. He believes owning a book store during the pandemic showed him how adaptable book stores need to be in today's world.
"The book stores that still exist now, kind of carve out what their specialty is and what makes them different," Adams said. "The experience of being there is what a bookstore can offer. In the same way that there can be a lot of pizza places but you have on that you like best."
Odd Bird has social media pages and hosts events to try to keep the community engaged. They even partnered with NoMa Warehouse in Columbia to host a "book fair for grown-ups".
"This is the whole point, people don't just come to me for the book they come for the getting the book and stuff like this," Adams explained.
With the addition of a new book store that is coming to Five Points, that will make four local brick and mortar book stores in the city.
According to Authors Guild there are more Americans buying physical copies of books. The organization found that paper book sales rose by almost 9% last year.