"Unless those massive chains start discounting all hardcover books, the independents will be fine," Murphy said. "We'll just stop selling the New York Times bestsellers, and sell more of the books we love." 
Liz Murphy, owner of The Learned Owl Book Shop
Hudson, OH

"I'm tickled pink (that Wal-Mart and Amazon.com are fighting), and I'm hoping that they lose a lot of money."
Jane Kessler, owner of Appletree Books
Cleveland Heights, OH

"It's a totally different market. If Wal-Mart started selling pork chops for $1.79 a pound, they're not going to put Whole Foods out of business. There is plenty of room for everyone." 
Barbara Meade, co-founder of Politics and Prose
Washington, DC

"I sighed a deep sigh. There's no way I can pay my rent and buy my inventory and compete with that."
Terry Lucas, owner of The Open Book
Westhampton Beach, NY

"I can't do that. I do not discount my new releases. We're definitely more customer-service oriented. We just try to keep the local people in the village happy."
Tim Schmidt, owner of the Village Book Shoppe 
Rockville Centre NY
(he says "the store's revenue is 40 percent higher than this time last year")

"Bestsellers are not the strength of independent bookstores," Klein said. "We don't live and die by the bestsellers. . . . What goes on between Amazon and Wal-Mart affects them more than it affects us."
Richard Klein, co-owner of Book Revue
Huntington, NY

"It's that concern [about losing sales to the deep discounters] that makes me more personable to my customers."
Hayley Wright, owner of Between the Covers
Bend, OR

"I know that price wars over books bring on the inevitable 'oh no, the indies will die!' chorus, but the fact is independent bookstores aren't in danger from this. These aren't really our top-selling books, and our customers are looking for more than just saving a few dollars."

"I'm pre-selling the new Stephen King book too, and instead of selling it cheap, I'm letting customers read my early copy now, instead of November when the book comes out. My customers pay what the book is worth, but they get real customer service in return.  And in the end, you get what you pay for."

"It's the chain bookstores and the readers that are going to be hurt by this the most. Chain bookstores can't do what what independents can do, not can they pay their bills by selling toothpaste and electronics. Readers will suffer the most, however. If the general public learns to expect cheap books, publishers won't be able to afford to take a chance on new writers, so quality, story, research and expertise will slowly disappear from new books, and we'll only have those most commercial and bland books to choose from. Again, you get what you pay for."
Nikki Furrer of Pudd'nhead Books
Webster Groves, MO

See also a long entry on Pudd'nhead's Blog

"It will affect us because it may drive people to the websites and web buying is big competition for us out here. I feel that if we can get people in the store, we can sell them books. If they are sitting at home shopping via computer, we don't have that opportunity. It also makes our prices seem grasping and greedy because we can't afford to discount that much (or at all) and yet customers don't seem to understand that we have costs associated with selling the books." 
Vicki Erwin, owner of Main Street Books 
St. Charles, MO

"It won't affect my business one jot. The only title we're even stocking is the Barbara Kingsolver."
Kelly von Plonski, owner of Subterranean Books
University City, MO

"They do what they do, and we do what we do. We can't compete on price. But we can compete on atmosphere and community service and customer service." 
Linda Berentsen
Olympia, WA