Minnesota

and especially enjoy all of the author appearances and book signings. I also love Dead Media (a particularly fascinating little place) and the bookstore owned and managed by Louise Erdrich and her daughters, Birchbark Books.

I really miss all of these places, as well as the range of culture and choices in the twin cities, since graduating from seminary there in May and having to return to my home base in a neighboring, much more rural and far less cultured, state where hubby is. My last week in the twin cities, a couple weeks after graduation, I spent a day patronizing all of these favorite places and doing my part to keep them going financially.

I think the bookstores that are struggling are those that are the specialty shops, like Once Upon a Crime and the theology one mentioned (obviously, I love theology, lol), since, like department stores, people can visit general bookstores and get the whole range of genres so they're less likely to make a stop at a shop with just one genre.

An exception to that is the rare and out of print bookstore on Snelling in St. Paul, which is a large and fascinating place. The clerks told me last time I was there that they have a rich customer base with all of the universities, colleges, seminaries, research places, etc., in the twin cities alone. That place always makes me wish I had tons more money than I do!