Boxed Out: 4 Bookstores in L.A. During COVID-19
I acknowledge that pleas to support independent bookstores, especially during the pandemic, are nothing original. Just recently, The New York Times highlighted how crucial it is to support local bookstores. And the American Booksellers’ Association, or the ABA, recently launched their “Boxed Out” campaign to encourage people to shop indie, complete with cardboard installations covering bookstores across the country, indicating how indie bookstores have been shut out by Amazon deliveries. So while articles like these may sound repetitive, as the pandemic wreaks havoc on the economy, while billionaires get even richer, it’s become vitally important to sound the alarms to support indie booksellers right now. According to the CEO of ABA, Allison K. Hill, “More than one indie bookstore a week has closed since the Covid-19 crisis began.”
Even as a bibliophilic creative writing graduate, it’s easy for me to take local bookstores for granted until they’re threatened. Upon hearing proclamations over how dire circumstances have become and not wanting my community to lose more indie bookstores, I interviewed four different booksellers in my area. Of course, these profiles represent only a fraction of the numerous independent bookstores across the greater Los Angeles area.
Bel Canto Books, Long Beach
