The ABA announced their annual membership data, adding 248 members over the last year. The organization now counts 2,433 bookstore members, operating in 2,844 locations. The organization indicated that “around 190 more stores are in the process of opening over the next two years,” the AP reports. As the AP explains, however, “new stores” includes pop-ups and online-only stores. ABA ceo Allison Hill also balances the increase in members against the challenges that stores continue to face: “Independent bookselling has never been dependably profitable, and Hill notes various concerns — rising costs, dwindling aid from the pandemic and the ongoing …