With a healthy economy, excellent educational system and generous support for the arts from both residents and government funding, it's no surprise Minnesota always ranks first or second on research publisher Morgan Quitno's annual “Most Livable State” lists. With approximately 250 retail outlets selling books to its five million residents, the nation's 21st most populous state scores a solid #13 on PW's bookselling health index.

Many of the state's bookstores are concentrated in the Minneapolis—St. Paul urban sprawl, where three million Minnesotans—nearly 60% of the population—live in 188 municipalities. Twenty-five of 46 ABA member stores are in the Twin Cities area, as well as 15 of 24 CBA stores. Twenty-seven of the state's 39 chain bookstores are also here, 18 of them B&N, nine Borders.

The Twin Cities also is home to Target, now the sixth largest retailer in the U.S. Of 1,500 Target stores nationwide, 64 are in Minnesota. Half of those stores are in the Minneapolis—St. Paul area, including the flagship store, on the ground floor of Target's corporate headquarters in downtown Minneapolis.

The abundance of retail outlets carrying books makes it hard to compete. A year after the 34-year-old iconic Ruminator Books closed its doors in 2004, Bound to Be Read, a 15,000-sq.-ft. store nearby, shut its doors. Last year, Borders closed its first Twin Cities location, in pedestrian-friendly Uptown.

“People are always talking up Minneapolis—St. Paul as top 10 in arts and in quality of life. It's surprising there aren't more large independents here,” said Hans Weyandt, co-owner for the past four years of Micawber's, a 1,700-sq.-ft St. Paul bookstore.

“But I don't think a large independent bookstore can survive in the Cities,” he added. “The key to survival is to be a neighborhood store, like us, or a niche store. The Cities are very neighborhood oriented. They're just big small towns.”

Colette Morgan, the buyer at Minneapolis's Wild Rumpus, which, along with St. Paul's Red Balloon, is one of the country's leading children's bookstores, agreed. “We've made Wild Rumpus a destination store,” she said. “Our staff really knows books. People from all over the Cities come to us if they need help.”

Morgan said the 15-year-old, 2,000-sq.-ft. store had one of its best years ever in 2006, posting a double-digit increase in sales.

Moving beyond the Twin Cities, many cities and towns, like Rochester—with its world-renowned Mayo Clinic and 97,000 residents—lack independent bookstores, while others support several. Duluth's 86,000 residents support two independents. Northfield, with 17,000 residents, supports four, including the bookstores operated by St. Olaf and Carleton colleges. Even Grand Marais (pop. 1,000) has two bookstores; the nearest chain store of any kind is 100 miles away.

Anita Zager, owner of Duluth's Northern Lights, described her customers as sophisticated buyers, who understand the importance of independent bookstores. But they're also frugal Midwesterners. “When it comes to meeting their bibliophile needs versus their pocketbooks, their pocketbooks often win out,” Zager admitted.

But, Zager added, Duluth is a community that supports its writers. Since Barton Sutter was named the city's poet laureate last year, sales of books by the region's many poets—including Garrison Keillor, Louis Jenkins and Sutter himself—have spiked. Waking by Matthew Sanford and Scent of God by Beryl Singleton Bissell, both memoirs by authors with close ties to the area, remain the store's bestselling nonfiction titles a year after publication.

“Bookselling here is fairly strong,” said Chris Livingston, owner of Winona's Bookshelf. “But then, we're a public radio kind of state. The same demographic that listens to public radio reads books.”

Bookselling Health Index
Household Income: $50,100

Population: 5,101,000

Independent Bookstores: 73

Chain Bookstores: 39

Total Bookstores: 112

Big-Box Stores: 134

Total Stores: 246

Stores per Capita: 1 per 20,736

Per Capita Rank: 13