Most Bookstores Deal in Specialties
Of the approximately 140 bookstores in Orange County, fewer than half are general-interest stores that carry a broad selection of fiction and nonfiction titles.
Only about 20 of the general-interest stores are independently owned, while 30 are owned by the three major chains: Crown, B. Dalton Bookseller and Waldenbooks.
A fourth chain, Little Professor Book Centers, is beginning to make its presence felt in the county with four franchised stores. Three opened in the past 18 months and several others are being considered.
The rest of the bookshops in the county are specialty stores.
Fifty of them sell only religious books.
A dozen are foreign-language stores, mainly dealing in Spanish and Vietnamese books.
There are a dozen or so used bookstores, with several specializing in rare and collectable books.
About two dozen others sell only one or two lines, such as technical and medical books; science-fiction and fantasy; mysteries and suspense, or--the hot new specialty in affluent suburban areas--children’s books.
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