Let’s be honest. For speed, convenience and a cost savings, it’s hard to beat Amazon. I confess that I use it. Statistics strongly suggest you do too. It’s a brilliant business concept. Except that it tends to destroy its competitors. That’s how the market works, you say. As consumers, it’s in our interest to seek out lower prices and convenience. But at what real cost?

In the past decade, book selling has undergone major upheaval. Independent book stores found themselves increasingly competing against major chains and discount stores encroaching on their territory. It was impossible to compete with the floor space, advertising clout and cut-rate prices offered by the deeper-pocket, faceless corporate entities.

Then independent stores got creative. They realized they could offer their customers personalized service because they took the time to get to know them. The indie stores opened up opportunities to local authors, they welcomed children and book clubs. They participated in off-site events and developed loyal customers through newsletters. The ambiance of neighborhood bookstores made them community gathering places, which could not be achieved by the chains and discounters.

The indies started to flourish as the corporate behemoths started to flounder. Borders went under. 130-year-old Barnes & Noble is reportedly teetering on the brink. The one giant seller still going great guns is Amazon, which began as a bookseller out of a Seattle garage in 1995. Now Amazon is out to topple local independent bookstores.

Surely Amazon would tell you it salutes and welcomes indie book stores. But that won’t stop them from trying to steal away indie book store customers. Chicago will be the fourth city in one year to have a brick-and-mortar Amazon book store open. Their store prices will match their online prices, which means less than you would pay at your neighborhood independent book store. What will this mean to the many vibrant indie book stores that serve Chicago’s booklovers so brilliantly? Time will tell.

There’s no reason for Amazon to open a physical book store in Chicago, except that the empire recognizes there’s money to be made from an active book-loving public. Now it will be up to those readers to show the indie stores we love them too by being as loyal to them as they’ve been to us.