As part of an occasional series, BuyIndie.net’s Vince Wadhwani profiles an independent, local business owner in D.C.

Other than coffee shops, perhaps no independent retailer faces as much pressure as your local book store. Opportunities abound to buy from aggressively growing chains or any of several online merchants. Some voices, like Tyler Cowen, wonder if that really matters at all, while others ask what may happen to the culture of reading when libraries and small book stores lose their financial legs.

To stay afloat, independent bookshops are employing a variety of techniques from serving pie and joe to live performances. One outfit in D.C. approached the rising competition from a different angle: Candida’s World of Books sells books that help residents stay in touch with the world outside the U.S., and not just by offering Footprint or Lonely Planet guides.

“I discovered that there wasn’t a bookstore in D.C. with an international focus,” explained owner Candida Mannozzi. “That really surprised me given the number of people fluent in other languages, or from other countries who live here and would want access to books in their own language. So we carry a lot of books that other stores might not, like foreign language texts or imported books.”