Outsiders Think This Industry is ‘Disappearing,’ But It’s Actually Growing Faster Than Ever: ‘People Are Craving Connection’

Allison Hill, CEO of the American Booksellers Association, often hears words of sympathy from strangers when she tells them about her job. They assume that the independent bookstore industry is dying out. 

“It’s all so funny,” she told ABC News earlier this week. “When I tell them I run the trade association for independent stores, they’ll say, ‘It’s just so sad that they’re disappearing.’ I don’t think they’re really keeping track, or they just know about a store that closed or heard about one closing.”

Hill sees something different. The latest numbers from the American Booksellers Association show that independent bookstores are expanding at an unprecedented rate. 

The association added more than 500 members in the past year, bringing its ranks to 3,417 bookstores operating across over 3,000 locations. That total is nearly triple what it was a decade ago and marks the organization’s highest membership since the late 1990s. 

The growth spans a wide range of business models, from traditional neighborhood shops like Hey Books! in San Diego to unconventional formats, such as the Wandering Quills Bookshop, a mobile retailer in Westerville, Ohio, and Banyan Books, a pop-up bookstore in St. Petersburg, Florida. 

A significant share of new independent bookstores reflects the wave of surging demand for romance and fantasy novels. That momentum is visible in niche retailers like the Spicy Librarian in Denver, Colorado, and the Flutter Romance Bookstore in Austin, Texas. Both bookstores are built around readers’ appetite for these fast-growing categories.

Independent bookstores now face competition from a revived Barnes & Noble. Once blamed for driving many independent sellers out of business, the chain later faltered against Amazon and closed locations. Since its 2019 acquisition by hedge fund Elliott Management Corp., it has been expanding again, opening over 100 stores over the past two years. 

Why independent bookstores are making a comeback

Despite heightened competition, independent bookstores are thriving. The business has never been a path to wealth, but it continues to draw people motivated by something other than profit. New entrants often include young idealists, retirees starting over and midcareer professionals searching for more meaningful work, per ABC News. 

“I think people want to realign their lives with their values,” Hill said. 

Kelley Hartnett, 55, had long wanted to run a bookstore. The Wentzville, Missouri-based marketing consultant and copywriter recently decided to give it a try. Though her husband worried about competition from Amazon, Hartnett moved ahead anyway. 

In 2025, she launched Double Dog Bookshop as a mobile store, traveling around the area in a converted cargo trailer and bringing her two dogs along for the ride. The business has since grown into a storefront downtown; Hartnett is hoping to find a larger space for customers to meet. 

“For me, Double Dog is about maybe 50% books and 50% community,” Hartnett told ABC News. “People are craving connection, especially in-person connection. People are over the internet and virtual meetings and algorithms. They’re not the same as having a human-to-human connection. It feels really healing.”