The North Texas indie bookstore boom

North Texas is in the midst of an independent bookstore renaissance.

Why it matters: Independent bookstores have become gathering places for the like-minded, and an avenue for communities to support arts and culture.

• "Having a bookstore in your neighborhood is a fantastic selling point," Interabang manager Brian Weiskopf tells Axios. "It's better than having a Trader Joe's."

Driving the news: Saturday is Independent Bookstore Day. Several indie bookstores have special sales and events, including in-store author appearances and workshops.

By the numbers: The year before Amazon opened its online bookstore, the American Booksellers Association reported 5,500 bookstores with 7,000 locations, according to Publisher's Weekly.

• At the end of the Great Recession in 2009, there 1,401 stores with 1,651 locations.
• Those numbers are slowly coming back up. Last year the ABA reported 1,701 stores with nearly 2,100 locations.

What they're saying: "People are interested in a well-curated bookstore. Something that's hand-picked and well-chosen," Weiskopf says.

• "You can spend five hours in a big-box bookstore and not find what you're looking for and you can spend a few minutes in an independent bookstore and walk out with six books."

Reality check: "We're in a moment of growth, but I want to be in a bookstore and then be able to walk to another bookstore," Deep Vellum manager Riley Rennhack tells Axios. "As booksellers, we do something that an algorithm can't do."