Just when you thought your days of browsing a big-box national book retailer store were as numbered thanks to the demise of Borders and the fading of Barnes & Noble comes word e-tailer giant Amazon is prepping to launch a physical store. more ›

Actors, writers, and theatre and film folk of all ilk, some sad news: Samuel French announced they will be closing down one of their locations and consolidating their operations. more ›

For starters, if your neighborhood Barnes & Noble store is the one at the Westside Pavilion, the short answer is: Yes. That said, the nation's hang-on big box book retailer could end up closing the doors on hundreds of the locations around the country over the next two years. more ›

Your helpful former Borders customer assistant knows you're a philistine. You read a book because you liked the movie or Oprah told you, you think Nicholas Sparks is a great author and don't even get this guy or gal started on Glenn Beck. more ›

The lease has been signed, and an opening looms on the horizon: Diesel: A Bookstore in Malibu will indeed re-open, confirms LA Observed. A legal skirmish and low sales volume left Diesel no choice but to close up shop in February, however rumors soon swirled that the owners had their eyes on a spot in the Malibu Country Mart. more ›

Sometimes bankruptcy works, and sometimes it's just time for a total liquidation. Borders, the big box bookseller who hit financial woes and began shutting down select locations recently, is throwing in the towel, and closing up all of their remaining 399 stores. more ›

While we have reason to celebrate our A-list local bookstores, this week brings sad news for two SoCal independent book retailers who have announced they're closing up shop. more ›

In February, the Malibu outpost of indie bookseller Diesel, A Bookstore, closed up shop at the Malibu Village after a near-seven years' tenancy at that location, after what was described as a "protracted legal skirmish." Now, a new chapter could unfold for the store in Malibu at the Country Mart, as the store's owners say they "are in negotiation on a lease and hope to work something out within the next few weeks," according to Malibu Patch. more ›

Borders bookstores are closing up all over, including several in the SoCal region, with more shut-downs just announced. In Pico Rivera, the Borders at the city's Towne Center is one of the first-round stores to get the ol' bankruptcy boot, but, as the Whittier Daily News reports, the bill for bringing books for sale to the community is still unpaid. more ›

Five years ago, the independent bookstore was likely fated to join the cassette tape: nostalgically revered, but tragically doomed. Despite hand picked recommendations, too-cool cashiers, and erudite small talk, the local bookstore didn’t stand a chance against the Big Guys—corporations like Barnes and Noble, Borders, and the true Iago of bookselling, Amazon. Then came the Kindle, the Nook, whatever the hell Sony makes, and all-too-quickly the local bookstore was thrown into certain extinction. Indie booksellers started looking less like the counter-culture revolutionaries they once were and more like, well, Luddites. But this month, something sensational happened: mega-chain Borders went belly-up and despite bleak predictions, many of LA’s indie bookstores aren’t just still standing—some are downright thriving. That’s right: mom-and-pop bookshops are back, baby. more ›

Borders, one of the country's last remaining multi-state book retailers, is expected to file for bankruptcy early next week. "This is likely to be ugly," says LA Observed, noting: "Initial plans are to close about 200 of the chain's 674 stores, with an option to shut down another 50. That's thousands of lost jobs." LAO says they counted around 35 SoCal stores on the Borders site. more ›

Yesterday, LA Observed's Here in Malibu eulogized the city's indie bookstore Diesel, who will be closing soon, following "a protracted legal skirmish" mixed with recession-era low sales. The store, which has been open for seven years, is in a retail center that became a "ghost town" after new ownership took over the property. more ›

L.A. is losing another bookstore, at least physically. On August 21st, Dawson's Bookshop will leave Larchmont Boulevard for the world wide web. "Starting this weekend until August 21, the store is having a moving sale with over 3,000 titles on sale for up to 75%. Expect to find a lot of photography books," notes neighborhood style blog Mondette. The once-downtown store celebrated its 100th birthday in 2005, making it the city's oldest bookstore. more ›

The Westside's Alias Books on Sawtelle Boulevard is expanding, opening a second location in Atwater Village, the store announced today. Expected to be open by May 1st, the store will emphasize its collection on film, literature and the arts. "Even in the age of the Kindle there's no substitute for holding a book in your hand and flipping through the pages," said Co-owner Patrick Paeper. Alias Books East will be open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week. It will be located at 3163 Glendale Blvd. more ›

A study released late least year ranked Los Angeles as a paltry #62 out of 75 when it came to the city's literacy. And when each year seems to bring word that more and more small independent bookshops are closing down, like this weekend's end of Equator Books in Venice, it seems the good old fashioned printed word is having a hard time staying afloat. But we are readers, right? We still love books, don't we? And while you're looking at our words on some sort of screen, we wanted to pay tribute to books and the act of reading; what better way than to skim the virtual pages of our LAist Featured Photos pool... more ›

Venice's Equator Books has been a welcoming independent option for book lovers on Abbot Kinney for over five years, but now they have announced that this weekend they are closing their doors for good. In an announcement sent out by email and posted on their website, the bookstore's owners are asking their customers to come by and make a last purchase from their collection of rare, vintage, and specialty books or vinyl:

To our friends, customers, family: more ›

Since 1970, the Bodhi Tree Bookstore, a Melrose Avenue staple, has been an information center for spirituality-related information. But times have changed and the store which used to have a staff of 100 is preparing to close its doors in a years time, reports the LA Weekly. "Twenty years ago we felt like it was an expanding situation," said Co-Owner Stan Madson. "We were concerned the store was getting too big. We had a staff of 100. Publishing was expanding. Spirituality was expanding. But what changed was that the market became widely dispersed." Also closing in the very near future is the nearby Borders Bookstore on La Cienega. more ›

A study conducted by Central Connecticut State University takes a look at literacy in major US cities and aims to present a portrait of the country's "cultural vitality," and it's not-so-great news for Los Angeles. more ›

"There must be a believer out there, one with both the foresight and resources to keep our city from becoming a wasteland of corporate chain stores, uninspired conformity and heartless mediocrity, and we think saving Equator Books would be a very good place to start," wrote Max Wheeler, part-owner of Equator, on the Huffington Post yesterday. more ›

Sunset Boulevard is home today to another sad story: Glenn Goldman, the owner of the 33-year-old bookstore Book Soup, died yesterday, just one day after he put the cherished shop up for sale. more ›

He might have played a big box book retailer in 1998's You've Got Mail, but in real life, actor Tom Hanks is pitching for the little guy, namely Pacific Palisades' Village Books. Local blog Tabloid Baby explains that Hanks is trying to help efforts to save the store by signing books there tonight. more ›

After a packed-to-the-brim soft opening over the weekend, Stories in Echo Park is now open. The new & used bookstore with a cafe took over the old Sea Level Records space on Sunset Blvd. next to 826's Echo Park Time Travel Mart and near The Echo, where Stories co-owner Liz Garo books music acts for shows. more ›

Ray Bradbury once called Long Beach's Acres of Books "a labyrinth, a tomb, a catacomb, a maze," and "a watering hole" of bookish treasures. The store, founded in 1934 by Bertrand Smith, has spanned over an acre of land at its Long Beach Boulevard storefront since 1960. more ›

While many mourn the loss of stalwart indie bookshops like Dutton's, many may want to celebrate the fact that LA (County, at least) is home to the nation's best bookstore, as deemed by Publisher's Weekly. more ›

Family, the great little bookstore on Fairfax is celebrating its one-year anniversary with a huge art show that opens tonight at 8pm and you're invited. more ›