Link to October 23 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article, "Some fear giant book retailers' deep discounts will hurt stores".Excerpt: Lanora Hurley has loaded her online shopping cart with a bunch of new books that Amazon.com is selling for $9, the online retailer's latest response to a price war with Walmart.com and Target.com.
But she can't quite bring herself to click the "buy" button. As the owner of Next Chapter Book Shop, an independent bookstore in Mequon, Hurley doesn't like the idea of doing business with the enemy, even if it means getting books below the price she can get from her regular supplier.
"It's a better deal for me to get them from Amazon and sell them here," she said.
Independent booksellers say the price war - which erupted last week when Wal-Mart began offering six soon-to-be-released books online for $10 - will harm the entire industry. The American Booksellers Association on Thursday asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate, saying the moves by the three retail giants "constitute illegal predatory pricing that is damaging to the book industry and harmful to consumers."
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