Local bookstores see boom as tech antidote
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Wendy Withers, co-owner of Books Are Awesome in Parker. Photo: Robert Sanchez/Axios
Bookstores are finding new life as Americans lose many of their casual gathering places.
The big picture: The comeback isn't just about selling books. It's about turning browsing into belonging in an increasingly digital world.
Why it matters: Americans are spending less time together, raising risks for loneliness and poor mental health.
- Americans' average daily socializing time fell from 45 to 35 minutes over the past 20 years, according to American Time Use Survey data.
- Among 15- to 24-year-olds, it dropped from about an hour a day to 35 minutes.
- University of Colorado Boulder researchers have also documented COVID-era declines in older Americans' use of "third places" — gathering spots outside home and work.
That's presented an opening for local booksellers.
Zoom in: Sales at Books Are Awesome in Parker grew 23% last year, co-owner Wendy Withers tells Axios.
- The store draws customers through school reading list partnerships, Douglas County Libraries events, local author visits, book clubs and signed author preorders.
Withers says her shop offers what algorithms cannot: a human touch.
- "Don't make my art," she says of technology. "Don't make my books, don't make the things that make me a human."
By the numbers: The number of U.S. bookstores increased 70%, from 2,010 in 2021 to 3,416 in 2025, per the American Booksellers Association — even as Americans say they're reading less.
Meanwhile, Castle Rock's Sudden Fiction Books is courting customers who want in-person recommendations and a local alternative to buying online, one of its owners, Christi Piper, tells Axios.
- The shop, now in its seventh year, has built a "strong" repeat customer base, she says.
- It's the town's only physical bookstore, and Piper says opening a second location has been on the owners' minds.
Sudden Fiction runs a monthly book club, local author events and larger gatherings, including "Romancing the Rockies," which brings in romance authors and bookish vendors.
- The store has also partnered with Denver nonprofit Burning Through Pages on its "Boozy Book Fair."
"A recommendation from a human being who reads and likes similar things is a big deal," Piper says.
The bottom line: Independent bookstores are proving that shared spaces can play a big role as more of our lives move online.