When statistics show that sales at independent bookstores increased in both revenue and volume in 2004, that must mean that something good's going on. And the Boston Globe discovers that the city's local indie bookshops aren't doing too badly at all - and are holding online sales at bay.

"The Internet is a big issue, but you can't replace coming into a bookstore and having the books displayed and hand-picked," said Janice Severance, who has owned the Bookstore of Gloucester since 1990. "I like to tell my customers, 'Go on the Internet all you like, but just copy down the number and call us up, leave a message -- even if it's in the middle of the night -- and we'll get the book,'" she said, "and if you don't want to come in, I'll send it to you."

What about the arrival of chain stores? That's really an incentive to do better, said Alan Schmid of Portland, Maine's Books, Etc. "Even though my sales were down because of the new place opening, I spiffed my store up, I sort of went against what some people may be inclined to do with the threat of declining sales, but because you know that consumers are going to come back, and when they did, I wanted the store to look nice.

"You can't just be asleep at the switch and think that the old model will work," Schmid said. "You have to be creative, inventive, and on your toes, and I think people who are in tune with that can have a better chance for success."