I am sure that with the upcoming of ebooks and other internet facilities the visits to bookshop will come down quite a lot. But that does not mean they would be deserted completely. I think it is great that a lot of people still enjoy buying books from shops and do not think it is a big waste of time and money.
I don't think that bookstores will be come obsolete. I think that they will change and may become smaller though. My favorite bookstore, Borders Books, went out of business a few years ago because they did not enter into the new eBook market at the beginning like they should have, according to the media. Barnes and Noble acquired Borders client's accounts and other business, so the store lived on. The readers who prefer to read eBooks may not read paperback books and vice versa. It's all personal preference. And preferences sometimes change as you get older and technology changes make you adapt. The independent book stores are going out of business in the US at an alarming rate in the last few years. Borders had more frequent sales with bigger discounts and more variety than Barnes and Noble does now.
I don't think so. We will always be needing books and reading is part of the building blocks of the modern life. I'm noticing that bookstores are becoming more organized now, and the prices more affordable. In some cases, we can even make orders by phone and purchase rare books by making a request. But aside from this new practices, I also realize that many kiosks, the small ones that used to sell magazines, newspapers, and especially comics, are no longer around. They've turned completely digital.
I think some of the larger and better-known book stores may survive. In the UK these are Waterstones, WH Smith and The Works. However, I think independent or smaller book stores may struggle for several reasons. 1. Supermarkets sell books and people can buy them while they are doing their shopping. 2. Many people shop online now. People will buy books from places like Amazon. 3. Modern technology means that people are now opting to buy e-books instead od traditional books.
Well Borders has closed where I live, which is a really great shame. It was my favorite bookstore to visit. Overall I certainly feel that bookstores are on a decline, with more people using digital media instead, but as to whether or not they will become obsolete is anyone's guess. I don't foresee books vanishing anytime soon, there's still plenty being printed, but it's likely that we may buy them only from huge retailers like Amazon or borrow them from libraries, instead of bookstores.
I don't think that they will become obsolete, but there will most certainly be less with the advent of Amazon and eBooks. I love going through a bookstore just to read a few pages just to see if it interests me. Futhermore, a lot of bookstores have various other knick-knacks that are interesting, and stationary as well. There are many products that I need to get a physical feel for before I buy it. That being said, I have no idea how future generations will act, and this is just my personal opinion.
