If there’s something Philadelphia’s really missing, it’s a bookstore like the Strand. What makes the Strand great is the same thing that used to make some record stores great: promos. We need something like this. I thought Philadelphia Book Company might be the answer, but it isn’t yet.
When I wandered into the warehouse on Frankford, it looked promising. There are book displays in the center of the space surrounded by metal bookshelves stacked high with who knows what. It seemed like the answer to my prayers. Who knew that uwishunu would lead me astray?
But it’s not really uwishunu’s fault, at least not entirely. It’s the Philadelphia Book Company’s website, which is essentially a massive affiliate funnel for Amazon. What happened was I had searched a few titles–right now I’m looking to pick up David Carr’s memoir, Alex Ross’ The Rest is Noise, George Lewis’ book about A.A.C.M., and Mark’s friend’s book about tribute bands–and they all appeared in the search results! Little did I know I’d overlooked the note that states that any book not found in their inventory returns Amazon search results. Bummer.
Philadelphia’s literary Shangri-La remains a myth, at least for now. I hold out hope that some daring entrepreneur will open a used bookstore that’s more than a garbage heap for books, but with the way things are going for the publishing industry, it’s probably only a matter of time before review copies become a thing of the past, and that independent bookstores, which are already struggling to survive, quietly slip off, too.
