[theme music] WOMAN (VOICEOVER): New York City is the birthplace of instant gratification.

Before passengers were swiping for Uber, New Yorkers were hailing yellow cabs.

And these days, as Silicon Valley finds trendy new ways to make late night purchases easier, bodegas across our city have continued to do the same thing with no internet, no algorithms, and no VC funding.

This convenience is never handier than on a Saturday, when you don't want to leave your apartment, unless it's for something you really can't wait for Monday to get.

Oh, that was so good!

Now I really want to read the book.

Let's go down to the bookstore and see if we can get a copy.

Let us?

Or let me go to the bookstore?

Well.

Why don't we just download it?

Absolutely not!

The last three books we read were e-reads.

And besides, I want to feel something physical.

You know, turn some pages.

And there are people there who can tell us if the book is worth buying or not.

That's what book reviews are for.

But I don't know those avatars!

I know my booksellers, and they know me!

Dominique, e-readers were made for days like these, when it's too cold to go outside.

It's not that cold.

Siri, what's the temperature?

SIRI: It's 12 degrees outside.

I don't know her, either.

All right, look.

Why don't we check to see if the library has any copies?

And wait?

I am still twelfth in line for "Ready Player One" as it is!

Well, you can go outside, but I'm not going out there.

Besides, one day bookstores won't be around anymore, because everyone's going to be reading digitally.

What are you going to do then?

Got to get with the one-click click!

You see, you're the reason people think bookstores are becoming obsolete.

And it's going to be people like me-- me-- a reader who treasures the magic of her local bookstore, where the people-- the people-- recommend your books, not algorithms.

And you can feel the beauty of the pages in between your fingers.

And it's not like swiping on that lifeless, cold hunk of plastic and metal and glass.

Because when someone opens a bookstore in your neighborhood, you support it.

Come on.

Babe, nobody reads when the family feuds.

When you're a millennial, everyone just sort of assumes that your life evolves around technology.

[phone beeps and vibrates] And so, naturally, when you hear that millennials are out-reading other generations, you probably think it's because of e-readers and smartphones.

However, research shows that print books remain the most popular format for readers, even after hundreds of independent bookstores closed between 2000 and 2009, which we like to call The Great Readcession.

We're accessing and acquiring print books.

So much so that bookstores are now experiencing a resurgence.

Even libraries are reporting higher patronage.

But the thought still lingers.

Will this resurgence last?

Or will indie bookstores become obsolete?

DOMINIQUE (VOICEOVER): The Great Readcession from 2000 to 2009 saw the closing of over 1,000 bookstores across America.

Research attributes this decline to the popularity of e-readers, the boom in chain bookstores, and of course, the lure of online retailers.

But now, with all of these elements simultaneously in existence, the book market has presented us with the opportunity to really explore how readers want and choose to access books.

Is it about convenience or experience?

And with the increase of the number of independent bookstores opening since 2009, what are the stores doing right to compete in the age of instant gratification?

The shop is really cool.

I've just been enjoying this cozy feeling ever since walking in, from the smell to the music, and then just seeing people waiting outside the doors.

Can you give us a little bit more about the history of Moravian's Book Shop?

So the Book Shop actually started-- we were started by Moravians.

They came from Germany back in 1741.

So they settled in Bethlehem in 1741.

Four years later, they started the bookshop, in 1745.

It was basically set up to make their educational materials, to teach the women and children in their community and the outreach into the community around the Native American area.

It's been all over the place.

We've been continuously operating since 1745, so 272 years in business.

DOMINIQUE: That is so cool.

Which just amazes people.

You know, they're like, what?

How can that be?

So how do you cater now to the community?

Well, I mean, it's a whole wide variety for us.

I mean, you have the people who are tried and true, who have been coming here for years.

You know, we have people who are in their 90s who have been coming here for most of their life.

DOMINIQUE: Oh, wow.

You know, then you get the Moravian college kids, the LeHigh kids who come over and check us out.

Those who are avid readers, you know.

Do they come and hang out?

Yeah, we have-- yeah, we have a little deli area.

We have Wi-Fi, coffee.

So, yeah.

We did a bit of research.

And we saw there was, at a time-- 2000 to 2009-- that people thought independent bookstores were sort of on the decline.

Did y'all feel any of those rumblings?

We did not feel the decline until about 2008.

Then we started to feel the decline.

So for us, it was the whole economic drop.

Then we had some lifestyle centers start popping up in the area.

And B&Ns went in there.

And then, we had the Nook, the Kindle, it all kind of hit us.

So there was a four-year period where we really saw a decline in books.

We have happily seen a resurgence of that.

And I put a lot of that to-- and maybe I put more stock in it than I should, but-- I feel that it's the college kids.

It's that generation.

What I noticed about them is they're back to the book.

They love reading a book.

They're writing.

You know, they want journals.

They want paper.

So I think there's a great resurgence, and that age is going to help carry it through.

Well, Lisa, thank you.

Thank you, Dominique.

This is a lot of fun.

It was a pleasure having you.

I can't wait to get some books now.

DOMINIQUE (VOICEOVER): Now we're back in Brooklyn at my neighborhood bookstore, Greenlight.

Greenlight opened its flagship store in 2009, at the peak of the independent bookstore decline, and for nearly a decade has managed to not only become a staple for Brooklynites, but expand to a second location.

Well, Greenlight first opened in 2009.

We opened in Fort Greene, on Fulton Street.

Greenlight actually announced that we wanted to open a bookstore the exact same week that the banks collapsed in 2008.

The timing also had a little bit of a silver lining, where I think during that kind of economic crisis, people wanted something positive to latch onto, some small story.

And I think for a lot of people, we were it.

Yeah.

And that's no small story, because now y'all have two locations.

And that silver lining just seems to just keep the writing along.

How do you all find your footing in this neighborhood, especially whether it's in Fort Greene or it's here?

How do you meet the community where they are?

Our mission is-- and our business model, really-- is to be there for our communities, the communities that we're serving.

You know, we can only do so much.

But the community does the rest.

At this location, we started doing a civic engagement series.

And this happened right after the election.

We noticed something in the air, where folks needed a place to talk about issues.

And with the civic engagement series, we partner with one organization each month.

It's usually a nonprofit organization who is devoted to some sort of civic engagement.

And we essentially opened up the store to them.

We give them a platform to talk about their organization, their mission statement, what they're doing in the community.

How are you all preparing for the next generation of readers?

When I think about the new generation of readers, I'm thinking more about who those people will be, as opposed to how they're going to be reading.

You know, e-readers have been around for a long time.

And at one point, they were scary to a lot of people, a lot of folks in the bookstore business.

But that isn't so much the case anymore.

I think readers have now discovered that they can read in multiple ways.

And so, that no longer feels like the threat it once felt like.

What do you like about being a bookseller?

A book store is a great place to kind of capture the microcosm of the world, you know?

So it's always stimulating.

And for the folks who make the effort to come into a bookstore, we want to make sure that that's a good experience.

DOMINIQUE (VOICEOVER): Perhaps it's just the natural ebb and flow of economic forces that determine the prevalence of brick and mortar bookshops.

And now that we understand that bookstores can and will adapt with the times, I think it's safe to say we don't all have to be on the same page about where we get our next read.

For now.

Until then, remember to read or be read.

The Great American Read is a new series on PBS about our most beloved books.

It leads to a nationwide vote on America's favorite novel, so head over to pbs.org/greatamericanread to vote for your favorite novel today.

Check the link in the description box for more details.