I've come to deduce that the death of bookstores is nothing more than a trope pushed by tech fetishists.

Last Thursday evening, I sat in the cafe of a chain bookstore in a major American city while my wife was browsing, and counted the people. There were close to 70 in my field of view, and in the 40ish minutes I sat there, over 100 people came in. The line at the checkout never had fewer than five people in it, and often more than a dozen.

A couple of weeks ago, I drove past my local bookstore (also a big chain) before it opened, and there was dozens and dozens of people waiting in line to get in.

Books aren't dead. Reading isn't dead. Acknowledging that there are people who enjoy different things than you do is dead.