How do you keep bookstores running in a time where distribution houses are shutting down?

Host: Akanksha Vyas

Notes: 

In the pandemic many distribution houses have started shutting down. Small, independent bookstores do not have direct connections with the publishers, nor do they have the staff or bandwidth to maintain those relationships. It is also important to note that distributors will take books back, where publishing houses will not. 

Is this an opportunity for a new kind of business model of a middle-man between bookstores and publishers – and can this be done in a way that is less inventory heavy?