by: David Rockne Corrigan
The Quebec government is considering a plan to regulate book prices in an effort to save small bookstores that have been impacted by large chains and Internet sales in recent years in an increasingly competitive environment.
CTV Montreal is reporting that the province has been under pressure from independent booksellers to help alleviate the worsening situation.
One solution that is now being floated around is to sell all books — even those sold at large chains and online — for approximately the same price, as overseen by the provincial government.
As it stands, large chain bookstores are able to negotiate discounts from publishers in order to offer discounts at their retail outlets. Smaller bookstores, that would be ordering smaller numbers of books, are unable to offer those same deep discounts to their customers.
The Parti Québécois government is considering a plan that would prohibit booksellers from offering more than a 10% discount on new books.
The Union of Quebec writers (UNEQ) supports the efforts to regulate the market, worrying that unless measures are taken to do so, it could lead to a “cultural impoverishment” for the province with the loss of smaller stores.
In 2006, Quebec’s independent bookstores accounted for 35% of the market share, a number which slipped to 28% in 2010.
from: National Post
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