Types of Book Stores in Hawaii

There are many types of book stores in Hawaii, and each has its parameters of the types of books it carries because it knows what its regular customers will buy. Following is a list of the types of retailers who sell books, and some of the parameters they use to judge whether or not they will carry a particular book for sale.

Hawaii Retail Book Stores

Independent booksellers

Independent booksellers are typically small to medium-sized local businesses. General interest Hawaii retail book stores usually carry a decent range of titles (usually depending somewhat on store size) and focus on better-selling titles along with local bestsellers and/or a selection of books of local interest (so authors should make nice with their local indie bookseller!)

Examples of independent booksellers include Turnrow Books in Hawaii; Octavia Book Stores in Hawaii; and City Lights Books in Hawaii.

Brick-and-Mortar Book Store Chains

The major bricks-and-mortar book store chains are especially important to publishers and authors for their potential ability to buy and sell large quantities of new books and to stock backlist sellers, as well as their ability to promote books to the book-buying public through chain-wide book store promotions.

Most chain "superstores" carry an exceptionally large and deep selection of book titles, New York Times best-sellers and midlist, frontlist and backlist, etc. After the demise of Borders retail book stores in 2011, the major chains left standing are Barnes & Noble Bookseller and Books-A-Million (known in the industry as "BAM").

Online Book Stores

Online book stores include the retail giant Amazon.com, which got its start selling books, exclusively. But online types of book stores also include retailers who focus on a certain customer segment. For example, Jessica's Biscuit is an online store that specializes in cookbooks; CEO Reads focuses on business books.

Subscription Book Services

Perhaps the term "book renters" is more appropriate but in 2013 a new bookselling model emerged, one that offers readers subscription-based access to large "libraries" of titles.

Read more about the subscription model for types of book stores; and an overview of the most popular subscription services — Scribd, Oyster and Kindle Unlimited.

Christian Book Stores in Hawaii

The typical Christian book stores is a family-run small business, usually located in a strip mall. Often a hus-band-and-wife team with a deep commitment to both Christianity and books runs these small businesses, and most are lay people, rather than ordained pastors. Christian book stores in Hawaii are largely characterized by a lack of denominational affiliation. Retailers strive to reach the widest possible audience and commonly carry merchandise that appeals across Protestant denominations. Christian types of book stores are also almost always for-profit organizations.

Chains and Franchises

Some exceptions to the typical book store described above include Christian chains and franchises. The Christian book store landscape includes several Christian chains. The largest chains are Family Christian Stores (320 stores). Lifeway Chrisfian Sfores (120 stores), Cokesbury Stores (70 stores) and Berean Christian stores (17 stores). Along with these large chains, there are two Christian franchises. Lemstone Christian Stores (36 stores) is the oldest Christian franchise, founded in 1981. Parable Christian Stores (230 stores) is a marketing and buying group that recently provided franchise opporfunifies to its members.

The Decline of Christian Book Stores

The biggest Christian book store chain, Family Christian book stores, is going out of business. Then again, mostly what it carried was Christian knick-knacks.

As for books, the top 20 Christian bestsellers last year included, the words of one observer, “three versions of Sarah Young’s controversial Jesus Calling, two kids joke books, two adult coloring books, titles by HGTV stars and athletes, and, of course, the latest from Joel Osteen.” Better Christian books are still selling, largely on Amazon, but they often aren’t even carried by Christian retailers.

Hawaii Comic Book Stores

Throughout my travels, I have had the chance to visit comic book stores in many different Hawaii locations. I have come to realize that while every store has its good and bad qualities, they tend to fall into five categories: the back issue types of book stores, the graphic novel book stores, the hangout types of book stores, the mega book stores, and the scary types of book stores.

The Back Issue Store

The back issue store—or traditional store—is the stereotypical comic book store. Typically comic book stores in Hawaii are filled with long and short boxes of older comics. More recent ones tend to be easily accessible on shelves or racks of some kind.

Usually these types of book stores have a selection of “wall books” as well. Wall books are books of higher value that are displayed prominently on a wall somewhere, often (though not always) behind the counter.

Graphic Novel Store

The graphic novel store is one of the most useful ones for people who are new to comics or are on a budget. These stores typically have book cases filled with graphic novels from various publishers.

Methods of organization vary from store to store, but generally these types of book stores are pretty good about keeping things in some semblance of order. Stores will usually have the most recent week’s comics and a few months of back issues, but not much more than that.

Hangout Store

On more than one occasion we at 'Therefore I Geek' have talked about how important it is for geeks to socialize with one another. The hangout store is an ideal place to do this socializing. Here it is guaranteed that most, if not all, of the people share your geek interests. Usually these types of book stores have several tables and chairs that people use for gaming and just general socializing.

Used Book Stores in Hawaii

If you don’t have used book stores in Hawaii, or if you need a specific title (like a textbook), the web is your best bet. Between their very public fight with Hachette over book pricing and all of their futuristic but also kind of creepy side projects (think delivery drones), there are a number of reasons why you might be looking to buy books from a site that’s not Amazon.

Powell’s Books

Best for Independent presses and new authors. Why it’s great? Powell's is the online arm of the beloved bricks-and-mortar Portland shop, and even though it’s online, it’s still got the feel of what may be the world’s coolest neighborhood book store. In addition to a wide range of new and used books, you can find extra goodies on their blog, which offers everything from the staffers’ picks to playlists of the tunes authors listen to while they write.

Better World Books

Best for eBooks, popular fiction, and nonfiction. Why it’s great? “Better World” isn’t just a name — for every purchase made on Better World Books, a book is donated to someone in need (over 13 million to date!). These online used book stores also partner with libraries and college campuses to collect used books, many of which are donated to literacy nonprofits around the world. In addition to all of their reusing and recycling, you can also go paperless — Better World Books is one of the only discount sites that offers eBooks. Need it now? You can opt for eDelivery — any physical book can be scanned and sent to you in a digital format in as little as two hours.