> This bookstore didn't do anything more special than actually work hard to beat Amazon. Oh, and they also picked a location literally across from Harvard Yard, filled with a constantly rotating customer base with a penchant for reading and lots of disposable income. That helped too.
WordsWorth had similarly prime location and a relatively early online bookstore, IIRC. They also tried things like the Curious George tie-in. Didn't save them. The Harvard Book Store's survival is more unusual than you think.
P.S. They didn't pick the location to compete with Amazon. They were there (under previous ownership) since before Jeff Bezos was born, I believe.
The Curious George thing was confusing; it was hardly even a book store at that point. I'd argue it probably hurt them more than it helped them. But fair enough. A few bookstores have shut down around there, including ones with similarly legitimate differentiation (like that rare book store around the corner.)
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that they picked the location to compete with Amazon. In this case, I mean "beat Amazon" to be synonymous with "surviving." Perhaps "coexist with Amazon" would have been a better way to put it.
That's the thing. In another era, I'd say that the Harvard Book Store was nothing special, but set against the carnage that has been the Boston-area bookstore scene, they're doing something right. I agree it has little or nothing to do with the digital printing press, but whatever it is, it's something a lot of other bookstores didn't crack.
WordsWorth had similarly prime location and a relatively early online bookstore, IIRC. They also tried things like the Curious George tie-in. Didn't save them. The Harvard Book Store's survival is more unusual than you think.
P.S. They didn't pick the location to compete with Amazon. They were there (under previous ownership) since before Jeff Bezos was born, I believe.