Stephen L. Carter, Columnist

Bookstore Browsing Can’t Become a Victim of Coronavirus

Downloading e-books just isn’t the same.

May 17, 2020 at 12:00 PM UTC

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of law at Yale University and author of “Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster.”

We’ll figure this out.
Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images

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We all have aspects of the old normal that we miss. For me, it's bookstores.

Barnes and Noble will end the shutdown with fewer stores than before the pandemic, and the company will be implementing restrictions that are sure to discourage browsing. Other booksellers have no idea when they will be ready to welcome customers again. The New York Times reported recently that although the number of indies has increased by nearly 900 over the past decade, the current emergency “threatens to wipe out those gains.”