Australian small business minister Nick Sherry angered booksellers by predicting that bookstores “will cease to exist” in five years.
Sherry (pictured, via) elaborated in SmartCompany: “Book retailing in particular is feeling the presence of large international organisations in the Australian market through online sales. Bookshops – like many other businesses – will have to adapt to the new digital reality and will no longer be bookshops as we have grown to know them.”
Many Australian booksellers thought his comments revealed a lack of support for this small business sector. They argued that bookstores will survive because readers still enjoy the bookstore environment, print books, and knowledgeable booksellers.