Congratulations on the new Facebook group, Erika. I sent a request to join.

When I moved to my city more than 30 years ago there 10 independent bookstores heee, now there are two. My favorite one, a feminist bookstore, closed last December.

Of the two remaining, one has been here for decades, although it’s ownership has changed several times. The other one opened a couple of years ago and I have to visit it.

My solution for the dilemma of wanting to support local businesses and the higher prices of those establishments was to buy new books I was giving as gifts and author-signed books at events from the independent stores, also second-hand books if available. Everything else online. A compromise that worked for me.