In the age of Amazon, community holds up local bookstore

170,000 books lie waiting to be purchased in an old Chevy dealership.

Beth Rusk climbs a flight of stairs to an office that once held the dealership’s owners. She glances over the sea of paperbacks and hardcovers before sitting down.

Rusk works as a manager at Magers & Quinn, an independent bookstore in Uptown Minneapolis that represents a small business success in an industry recently fraught with failures.

In April 2018, the bookstore industry reported profits of $669 million, a 33 percent decrease from the $1 billion reported a decade ago, according to data from the US Census Bureau. And, as of Dec. 2017, Amazon rose to become the fourth largest book retailer.

Despite the troubles generally plaguing brick-and-mortar bookstores, Rusk said Magers & Quinn hasn’t experienced the same drop in customers or sales that other retailers have.

“I don’t know the exact numbers. I know we’re doing fine,” Rusk said. “People call and say ‘I want to order from you, I don’t want to order from Amazon.’ I hear that a lot.”

Rusk furrowed her brow, seeming to struggle with how that was possible. After a five-second pause, she attributed the store’s continued success in the online era to the material element of going to a bookstore.

“A lot of people like to touch the book and read the first couple chapters to see if they like the book. It’s hard to do that on Amazon,” Rusk said. “It’s the tangible nature of it.”

Meanwhile, Minneapolis native Joshua Ganon browsed the bookstore looking for a gift and said he recently switched to independent stores in order to put money back into the community.

“I just wanted to support a local Minneapolis business,” Ganon said. “I would much rather come here and find something unique than shop at a Barnes & Noble.”

Rusk, who once worked for now-defunct Borders Bookstore, shakes off the thought of working for a major retailer again. She’s come to admire the freedom offered by independent retailers.

“Corporate bookstores tell you where everything goes. It’s very much more regimented than the independent bookstore,” Rusk said. “We’re able to ebb and flow, so we can be more local and consider what’s happening in our community.”

Rusk also said she believes local businesses are seeing more success because people are attempting to spend money locally.

“I think people are really into helping their local businesses now,” Rusk said. “Working here is just really different. You get to express yourself more; it makes for a really happy atmosphere.”

Despite the growth of large retailers like Amazon, evidence exists to bolster Rusk’s claim of an increased popularity in shopping at small businesses.

Since the end of the Great Recession in June 2009, 2.4 million small businesses have opened. And, as of 2016, the survival rate for small businesses after a year of business is nearly 80 percent, according to a report from the US Small Business Administration.

Rusk also said the level of support Magers & Quinn puts into Minnesota-born authors has led to a better standing in the community, and therefore, more success.

“We do so many events for Minnesota authors. If you want to have your book released, you call us,” Rusk said. “It’s a plus, people think it’s really cool that they can come down and see a local author they’ve never really heard of.”

Citing the workplace environment, Rusk hopes her tenure at Magers and Quinn stretches past the foreseeable future.

“It’s the employees and our atmosphere,” Rusk said. “We all have a great love of reading, so it’s really fun.”