At least as of a few years ago, physical bookstores were making a comeback in the United States.
Most attributed this to an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" scenario. Amazon stomped Borders and Barnes & Noble into the ground, which meant that in many towns there was no longer a huge chain competitor in the bricks and mortar space. That opened up room for the small indy bookstores to come back.
Edit: this NPR piece claims that the number of indy bookstores in the United States increased 35% between 2009 and 2015.
Most attributed this to an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" scenario. Amazon stomped Borders and Barnes & Noble into the ground, which meant that in many towns there was no longer a huge chain competitor in the bricks and mortar space. That opened up room for the small indy bookstores to come back.
Edit: this NPR piece claims that the number of indy bookstores in the United States increased 35% between 2009 and 2015.
https://www.npr.org/2018/03/29/598053563/why-the-number-of-i...