Today is National Bookshop Day in Australia. Bookshops around the country and putting on special activities and promotions to remind us all that they serve a vital role in our communities.

Just as books are more than just products, so too a bookshop is a lot more than just another retail outlet.

In a world where we are increasingly isolated from each other, a bookshop can serve as a social hub: a place where different ideas and ways of seeing the world are discovered and shared.

Bookshops have long been the major avenue through which our writers reach out to audiences.

And a bookshop is not only where you can find that next great book, but it’s a place to take children for guidance of what to read next, or even where to start reading.

For all their bells and whistles, there is plenty of research that shows book websites simply can’t replicate the discovery experience bookshops offer us, just as ebooks offer a pale imitation of the joys of owning a printed book.

In short, we can’t do without bookshops and they should be celebrated.

The best way—the only way—to celebrate them is to visit one. Today, on National Bookshop Day.

So, shut down your web browser, grab and friend and get down to your local bookshop—there’s still no better place to discover books.