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My criticism is not with your correct claims about reading. That’s borne out by research.

I see black Americans reading quite a bit. Different areas I suppose.

My criticism is that 1) you were minimizing the attempt to open the bookstore. That’s the American way. Who cares if they cater to a subset of the population? Guess what - that happens all the time. Did the bookstore have a sign that said “Blacks Only”?

And 2) you impugned the bookstore exactly because of who they catered to. Again, who cares? I want small businesses to succeed. I’m disappointed they didn’t.

I see black Americans reading quite a bit. I didn't say reading, I said reading an actual book. I was in the doctors office this morning, out of about 30 patients in the waiting area I did not see anyone reading a book, 20 years ago that was common in a Doctor's office. So actual books are losing market share in the USA. Opening a bookstore seems risky to me.

And you're right, I was minimizing opening a bookstore. I don't care if they targeted the entire population it seems to be a losing business regardless of the owner's race.

North Carolina’s first Black-owned children’s bookstore, Liberation Station And the owner's' highlight them being "black owned" and there is racial implication in the store name "Liberation Station". So based on these 2 items it appeared to me they had a targeted customer base.

And I'm all for small business's succeeding, I'm amazed an any doing so in this environment of government interference and over-regulation. I had often explored opening a business, but was daunted by all the requirements. I'm currently an investor in a small business that is going under for various reasons, however it was successful for years and got my money out of it. Now I'm researching how to replace it with another successful business, but haven't found the right marketable product/service yet. So I shake my head at people IMHO throwing away money on a dying market (bookstore) and then limiting the customer base, not a good business model.