VOA慢速英语--迄今为止,独立书店在新冠疫情中幸存下来

America's independent booksellers have, so far, avoided the disaster that many feared would come during the first year of the pandemic.

Aaron Beckwith is one of the owners of Capitol Hill Books, a used bookstore located in Washington, D.C.

During the pandemic, Capitol Hill Books started a program called "Grab¹ Bag." The store put together a bag of books based on the type of books the buyer wanted.

When the program started, Beckwith said, "we had people email us in, and we got a flood of requests once we sent the tweet out that we were starting to do this... We got a thousand orders, within, you know, a few days. It took us months to fill them."

American Booksellers Association (ABA) is a nonprofit organization that supports independent booksellers. In May, it told The Associated Press that membership² increased from 1,635 to 1,701. The stores that joined were both new stores just opening and existing stores that had decided³ to join.

The group's executive⁴, Allison K. Hill, and others feared that hundreds of stores could go out of business during the pandemic. However, the group only counted 14 closings in 2021 so far, with more than 70 last year.

Hill said, "it's fair to say that it could have been much, much worse." She described the independent bookstore community as "bruised⁶" but standing⁷.

Hill said there were a few reasons book stores were able to survive the pandemic-caused shutdowns and limited hours, including PPP Loans. A PPP loan was federal government assistance given to small businesses to help pay their employees.

The reasons also include a surprisingly strong holiday buying season in December, and increased online sales. Finally, the rise of bookshop.org helped. The website partners with independent stores to help them reach more readers. It has directed more than $14 million in sales.

But Hill said business for independent stores remains⁸ more difficult than ever. Many owners are not expecting in-person events at least through the summer. They are also still facing the growing strength of Amazon, the large online store.

Book sales overall have been strong during the pandemic. But much of that has been with Amazon or low-cost stores with many locations that sell books.

Bookstores are trying to reinvent themselves, and so is the American Booksellers Association.

ABA had more than 1,800 members with more than 2,500 store locations in 2019. This was a large increase from 1,400 ten years ago. ABA, however, once had 5,000 members. Competition from large low-cost stores that sell many items, including books, has made it difficult for independent booksellers.

In recent years, the ABA has reexamined who can become a member as well as its own operation. It changed some rules. Now, only stores where 50 percent or more of products are books can become members. Online-only stores can also join.

The ABA created a group that will reexamine its diversity, reaching out to minority-owned stores. They are also looking at the number of minorities in leadership positions in their organization.

Capitol Hill Books was able to stay open and be successful because it changed its business model and received government assistance.

Beckwith said about the "Grab Bag" program, "we altered our entire operation to it... And, also, people were really happy... We started ordering new books..."

Selling more new books helped the store stay open. He said, "We were 99 percent used, but, now, we're 96 percent used."

Words in This Story

bag – n. a container made of thin material (such as paper, plastic, or cloth) that opens at the top and is used for holding or carrying things

tweet – n. a brief message that someone writes on the Internet using a service called Twitter

bruise⁵ – v. to get a dark and painful area on your skin caused by an injury

diversity – n. the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization

alter – v. to change (something)

1 grab   

vt./n.攫取，抓取；vi.攫取，抓住(at)

参考例句：

• It is rude to grab a seat.抢占座位是不礼貌的。
• The thief made a grab at my bag but I pushed him away.贼想抢我的手提包，但被我推开了。

2 membership   

n.成员资格，会员全体，从属关系

参考例句：

• I must renew my membership of the sailing club.我必须延续我的航海俱乐部会员的资格。
• He made up his mind to apply for membership in the Party.他决心申请入党。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

5 bruise   

n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤

参考例句：

• The bruise was caused by a kick.这伤痕是脚踢的。
• Jack fell down yesterday and got a big bruise on his face.杰克昨天摔了一跤，脸上摔出老大一块淤斑。

6 bruised   

[医]青肿的，瘀紫的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。