Cleveland, Part 3

Later on Friday, we both headed over to Coventry to meet with Suzanne from Mac's Backs Books. New and used books lined all the walls from the floor to the ceiling, and she took us to the basement for the interview because there was barely any room on the main floor. The basement was also filled with books, but there was enough room for us to comfortably talk with her.

During our interview, Suzanne talked about how the book business has been suffering a lot because of the new technologies, such as the iPad and the Kindle. With all the new technology, people tend to go for simplicity and low prices, and the eBook has been a new and exciting solution for consumers. Therefore, in the past few years, book stores have been going out of business, and we all have witnessed several of them closing recently. Fortunately, Mac's Backs has been able to stay in business because they are able to sell eBooks as well, and those who are loyal to the store are able to support the business while enjoying the new technology. Mac's Backs is different from other larger bookstores that we know well, for they sell both new and used books and have a much smaller collection. The business also does not sell new mainstream books. So, Mac's Backs is able to support itself through its loyal customers who continue to purchase their books and those who buy eBooks geared towards the Mac's Backs business.

Another key to Mac's Backs ability to support itself is its location on Coventry. By existing in Cleveland Heights, the store attracts a wide variety of customers, many whom are well-educated and willing to support the local community. Also, with the opening connecting Mac's Backs to Tommy's Restaurant, many customers at Tommy's tend to contribute to the bookstore traffic. The last point that Suzanne made had to do with Amazon and their enormous corporation. Mac's Backs feels the pressure of Amazon's success, for Amazon is the only business that is able to sell Kindles and the books that go along with them. That itself puts Amazon ahead of the game, but luckily other devices are available on the market for consumers to purchase that allow them to use eBooks from sources other than Amazon. Also, Amazon's huge success partly comes from the fact that they don't need to charge a sales tax to their customers, but states have recently began to turn that around, which is good news for both the local and larger bookstores. One thing we've learned is that even though bookstores are both small, independent business and large, national chains, they don't exactly compete with each other - they compete with technology.