Always strive to learn something useful. --Sophocles

They don't allow discounters like Amazon to cut the price of books more than 5%, plus the Paris government buys buildings in high-rent districts to give book stores affordable rents. France is in the process of passing a law that prohibits the 5% discount and adding free shipping on top of it.

I wonder if Jeff Bezos is crying to his Congressional friends that this is anti-capitalism. It is, it's blatant market protection to help small businesses be competitive to ensure diversity and to help employment, otherwise Amazon would swoop in and most of those small bookstores would shutter very quickly.

I always get depressed when I go in to a mall and there are no bookstores. There are three bookstores in a 75 mile radius of my house: a used one infested with cats, a tiny one with a very limited selection, and a Hastings which rarely has what we're looking for. I appreciate Amazon in that it's our only option without driving 75+ miles, I just hate that they drove/are driving out of business the big box stores that drove so many of the small bookstores out of business.

The article also notes that France has a much lower adoption rate for ebooks, which I also appreciate. They have their place, but they are no substitute to a printed copy (a lot of the time). I have a friend who practically lives off ebooks as she has fibromyalgia and weak hands and cannot hold large hardbacks for extended periods of time.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/10/25/240766585/little-libraires-that-could-french-law-keeps-amazon-at-bay?sc=17&f=1001