Nashville never had many indie bookstores, at least not by the late 70s. There was one where we used to get all our school workbooks - it closed several years ago because the owners retired. There are a couple of small new age shops that sell books, and a Catholic shop, but that's about it, for new books, anyway. We do have several used bookshops, and they don't appear to be going anywhere. Their numbers have actually increased in the last five years. There are a couple of them that have been around for as long as I can remember - Elder's on Elliston Place, and Dad's Old Books in Green Hills. Both excellent shops.

I don't know anything about Borders and the Union - is there a retail union? I worked in retail for awhile and never knew such a thing.