Book Swap of New Tampa Shutters

Another independent bookstore has bitten the dust.

Book Swap of New Tampa, 1946 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. in The Shoppes at New Tampa, has closed down.

The independent used bookstore opened in May 2011, and was the second location for owner Cynthia Floyd. The original store on Dale Mabry in Carrollwood will remain open.

Floyd could not be reached for comment Wednesday but the store gave a brief response via Facebook when asked about the reason for the closing.

“Not enough sales to keep it going,” the store said in a response.

The local store, which is actually in Wesley Chapel, is across the road from Barnes & Noble at The Shops at Wiregrass. Book Swap stocked everything from adult fiction and non-fiction to children’s titles and audio books.

In a 2011 interview with Patch, Floyd expressed faith in being a little guy.

“Competing with Amazon is hard as there are so many people selling their books at low prices,” she said. “However, I do think I can compete with Barnes & Noble and other chain bookstores as we carry new books and can order anything in print.”

Book Swap’s closure follows a national trend. The American Booksellers Association, a national trade group of independent book peddlers, had about 1,500 member stores in 2011. That number was about 4,700 in 1993 —  or three times as high as 2011.

Do you miss Book Swap? Where do you buy your books, whether paper or electronic? Tell us in the comments section below.