SpringfieldNewsSun.com

SPRINGFIELD — Don't stop the presses yet — bookstore owners don't feel overly threatened by electronic reading devices.

Amazon's Kindle came out in November and created yet the latest flurry of questions about the future of paper books.

The $399 book-sized Kindle can store 200 of the 90,000 eBooks available.

Amazon sold out of its initial inventory in five and a half hours, said Kindle's spokesman Drew Herdener.

"Kindle is for readers, and readers read books," so Kindle and bookstores have the same customer base, he said.

"The physical book is not going away overnight. These two will coexist for quite a while," he added, and bookstore owners and employees seem to agree with him.

"Borders is embracing the eBook format," said Mary Davis, the corporate affairs manager at Borders book stores, which owns Waldenbooks, 846 Upper Valley Pike.

Borders partnered with Sony to sell Sony's eBook reader and is selling more than 25,000 eBooks, allowing the store to prepare for the future, she said.

Urbana's The Ole' Book Nook has been around for 23 years and isn't closing anytime soon, owner Vicki Brown said. Her customer base has been consistent.

"People who shop online would only come to me in emergencies," she said. "My customers like to pull the book off the shelf" and enjoy the tactile experience of shopping.

"I prefer not to think that when technology comes in it's all death and doom. I'm optimistic," she said.

Logos Christian Bookstore, 1062 Upper Valley Pike, is closing soon. Owner Jay Weygandt doesn't blame electronic reading devices, despite Kindle offering 1,735 Christian eBooks — which is exactly why Weygandt loves his own Kindle.

"It never leaves my side," he said.

He recently downloaded a Bible for $10, which is less than the wholesale price from his distributors, he said. He added that it took less time for him to download his eBible than to get one from the bookshelf.

"This is the future of reading and bookselling," he said, when the devices are reasonably priced, which might take some time.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0349 or dselden@coxohio.com.