In Missouri, like everywhere else, hundreds of under-the-radar bookstores struggle to stay above water in an age of Amazon and E-readers. Earlier this year a group of independent bookstores in St. Louis forgot about looking at each other as competitors and banded together. Their goal is to promote each other while keeping an eye on threats to the bookstore industry.
The Independent Bookstore Alliance, as it's called, uses events like signings, bookstore tours and literary speed dating to reach out to the community. As part of the Word Missouri series, which examines Missouri’s literary culture, KBIA’s Davis Dunavin joined one of these bookstore tours. Here’s his story.