Some of my favorite moments in time are traveling to some city and carving out time to visit a locally run bookstore. I can point to books on my bookshelf and recall precisely the year and store from which I purchased it.

Maybe bookstores are a problem the way you describe them... I also have a friend who does the annual holiday musical/dance/theater productions in her local town. Auditions, rehearsals, musicians, dancers, actors, etc. Her studio loses money. Her partner contributes most of the matching funds needed to break even. They book theaters and sell tickets, etc. It doesn't make money, it's not a high profile cultural event, it's a hobby but the people who do it, and attend year after year, love it.

I'm not saying bookstores are like that, for better and worse. I personally think bookstores can and should survive in our economic environments. They're a universal funnel of product, output, art, commerce and community. We can buy things from them and they can employee people and survive.

That said -- I just looked up the new Beowulf translation. Powell's is out, Bookshop is out, but Amazon can says it's "In Stock". Sigh^3.