Paying the price

To the editor: Across America, small independent book stores have become anachronisms in a world of computer-driven technologies. So much information can now be accessed faster, more cheaply and more conveniently from one’s home computer. But we are paying a price for this virtual revolution in knowledge acquisition because a bookstore is more than just a business. It is a cultural institution in our community that encourages open discourse. It also adds interest and intellectual stimulation to the “Main Street” shopping experience. We talk up a storm about the importance of preserving the vitality of our Main Street with its family-run enterprises, yet too often we spend our dollars elsewhere at the malls or online. Warwick and Florida are among the few truly vibrant Main Streets remaining in Orange County and they have contributed hugely to the civic spirit that is everywhere evident in our community. But the traditional Main Street with its deeply satisfying human landscape is clearly an endangered species suspended in a fragile equilibrium. Its future, and for that matter the future of small business enterprise in America, hangs in the balance. In the final analysis, will cyberspace trump our local universe and revolutionize the way we conduct our lives or will the two realms somehow come together and create a new and richer synthesis? When the doors of The Bookstore close for the last time at the end of August it should give us all pause to contemplate the significance of this epochal event. Richard W. Hull Warwick