Well, as far as going to independent rather than any old brick and mortar - you have to know where they are. And as mrissa says, it helps if they generally stock what you are looking for.
The Odyssey is super close by to where you live and while it may not have Chill or a lot of other scifi/fantasy, it has a decent generalized selection. Whereas the only indie bookstore that I'm aware of (that is anywhere near me and isn't exclusively a used bookstore) is the Frugal Frigate, which is 1/2 hour drive away and specializes in children's books.
Also, I think other two big factors (in terms of ppl forming habits) are that, back before Amazon and stuff:
1) It wasn't as easy for the indie's to order stuff either. The internet stuff that makes it easier for us to order online also makes it easier for brick and mortar stores to place online orders. Their ability to get Chill to you so quickly is related to the reason why Amazon can as well. I think the one time I looked into ordering something through a brick and mortar back in the dark ages before the internets, the turnout was a month or longer. (but I'll also admit that's a vaguish memory) So, ppl never formed the habit of doing that, and then when the internets came along we formed the habit of skipping the brick and mortar altogether.
2) It was harder to browse for titles before the internets. A lot of what I use amazon for is research. (What are ppl saying about this cookie sheet? Does it brown the cookies well? Warp easily? Is it likely to come scratched?) There was a period of time where I came close to not reading any scifi/fantasy altogether because I'd exhausted most of the kid/teenlit scifi/fantasy* and pretty much the only recommendations I got were for stuff like Piers Anthony novels, which I got sick of pretty quickly. For whatever reason, no one around me had ever heard of Tamora Pierce, Terri Windling, etc., and I'm not even sure the bookstores around me stocked them (at least not the extent to which they do now) - and so I never heard about/read them either.
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The Odyssey is super close by to where you live and while it may not have Chill or a lot of other scifi/fantasy, it has a decent generalized selection. Whereas the only indie bookstore that I'm aware of (that is anywhere near me and isn't exclusively a used bookstore) is the Frugal Frigate, which is 1/2 hour drive away and specializes in children's books.
Also, I think other two big factors (in terms of ppl forming habits) are that, back before Amazon and stuff:
1) It wasn't as easy for the indie's to order stuff either. The internet stuff that makes it easier for us to order online also makes it easier for brick and mortar stores to place online orders. Their ability to get Chill to you so quickly is related to the reason why Amazon can as well. I think the one time I looked into ordering something through a brick and mortar back in the dark ages before the internets, the turnout was a month or longer. (but I'll also admit that's a vaguish memory) So, ppl never formed the habit of doing that, and then when the internets came along we formed the habit of skipping the brick and mortar altogether.
2) It was harder to browse for titles before the internets. A lot of what I use amazon for is research. (What are ppl saying about this cookie sheet? Does it brown the cookies well? Warp easily? Is it likely to come scratched?) There was a period of time where I came close to not reading any scifi/fantasy altogether because I'd exhausted most of the kid/teenlit scifi/fantasy* and pretty much the only recommendations I got were for stuff like Piers Anthony novels, which I got sick of pretty quickly. For whatever reason, no one around me had ever heard of Tamora Pierce, Terri Windling, etc., and I'm not even sure the bookstores around me stocked them (at least not the extent to which they do now) - and so I never heard about/read them either.