The panel, moderated by the bookвЂ™s editor, Susan F. Organized by the Caxton Club, a Chicago-based association of bibliophiles, it is the first publication to focus on the history, achievements, and image of the city through the lens of books.

But no one of us would ever have the power to be able to take on Amazon,вЂќ she said.Join us at Bookends & Beginnings for a panel discussion focused on the recently published Chicago by the Book: 101 Publications That Shaped the City and Its Image (University of Chicago Press, 2018).

вЂњWe get up and battle and fight every day to make our business model work, and we do it out of passion. вЂњWe think that being a place matters, that the browsing experience matters,вЂќ she said. She called Amazon a вЂњjuggernautвЂќ and a вЂњbully.вЂќ The financial pain felt by her bookstore due to AmazonвЂ™s pricing is real, Barrett said, and would have been more acute during the pandemic if not for an online fundraising campaign that raised nearly $50,000, money her business received through the Paycheck Protection Program and the fact that a Barnes and Noble about a block from her store closed last year, funneling more customers her way. Two law firms with experience in fighting big tech - Sperling and Slater in Chicago and Hagens Berman in Seattle - teamed up on the case, and when it came time to find someone to represent book purchasers, Barrett was the perfect match.ДЄttorney Eamon Kelly, who lives in Evanston and regularly shops for biographies at BarrettвЂ™s store, pitched Barrett to his fellow attorneys and then pitched Barrett, who said she вЂњjumped on the idea.вЂќД«arrettвЂ™s shop, with its alleyway entrance, is вЂњa magical place to look at books,вЂќ Kelly said.Д«arrett, 60, opened her bookstore in 2014. вЂњItвЂ™s been very frustrating to watch the growth of Amazon and think, вЂMe, just little old me by myself, I canвЂ™t stop this, but I can see that itвЂ™s unfair,вЂ™вЂќ Barrett said. It seeks damages and an injunction on the вЂњanti-competitiveвЂќ practice.

The suit, which was filed in New York, seeks to include all booksellers that bought books from the Big Five after March 25, 2017. вЂњWe have to talk to our customers all the time about why we canвЂ™t match AmazonвЂ™s pricing.вЂќДЄmazon didnвЂ™t return a message seeking comment. вЂњI, along with most independent bookstore owners in America, feel incredibly frustrated because weвЂ™ve seen that the playing field is not level,вЂќ Barrett told the Sun-Times. Nina Barrett, owner of Bookends and Beginnings, signed on as the named plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit filed last week that accuses Amazon of orchestrating a price-fixing scheme with the nationвЂ™s leading book publishers that makes it impossible for other retailers to beat their prices.ДЄccording to the suit, contracts that Amazon has with the nationвЂ™s вЂњBig FiveвЂќ publishers - Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster - block the publishers from giving other retailers better prices. An Evanston bookstore owner wants to take on Amazon.

Bookends and beginnings