Bummed

[moblues]

Okay. I'm bummed. Big time. My city of Naperville's (IL) long-standing (maybe thirty-forty years--I was too stunned to ask) new and used bookstore is going completely online. They close their brick and mortar facade in November. At least they aren't going out of business. The name of the business is BookZeller.

Going to BookZeller was the nightcap of our Friday or Saturday evening excursions. Okay, I'm old. ;) The location was perfect. If you didn't know it was there, you could walk right by it and never notice. (Think Bell, Book and Candle with Kim Novak & Jimmy Stewart.) It has/had a lower-level basement location. Just walk down three steps and you could smell the musty treasures secreted within the surprisingly large hidden warren below.

Last night I bought Caleb Carr's The Angel of Darkness in perfect condition--hardcover, no less. How much did it cost, you ask? (okay maybe you didn't) $1.00. ONE DOLLAR!

I think I'm going to go curl up and hide in the corner for a while. :cry:




Mike

[alleycat]

Find out if you local library has sidewalk sales (mine does).

One of my favorite New Yorker covers of all time is of an old-fashioned bookstore, back before bookstores were as serile as hospitals.

[emeraldcite]

Find out if you local library has sidewalk sales (mine does).

Indeed. I picked up a first edition of Faulkner's Light in August (without the dust cover) for fifty cents.

Although I feel for you and your loss. I love that musty smell of books and I would miss a local store; however, all we really have around here are mega-chains.

[alleycat]

If you get desperate, come to Nashville. We still have a few old bookstores (such as this one: (http://www.abebooks.com/home/ELDERSBOOKSTORE/ ) and a super-large locally owned bookstore.

[moblues]

Hi alleycat. It's not so much the loss of great bargains on used books that bothers me. It's the end of an era. I knew it was coming; we all did. But to see it happen to such a charming, kitschy little place where artists and students hung out together hurts. Color me yesterday and missing it as it happens before my eyes.




Mike

[alleycat]

Hopefully, you still have a local coffee shop that isn't a Starbucks.

[Aubrey]

moblues, that sounds a lot like a bookstore I went to on vacation. It was tucked away in the side of this brick building and down a set of outside stairs. It actually looked like a store you'd find in Paris (from pics I've seen of Paris streets).

It just kills me when cozy little stores go out of buisness. There's something so special and personal about them that can't be duplicated by mega-stores. Sadly, even though my town is pretty big, the only small book stores we have are one or two used ones and one gay specialty one. Even the Christian ones are all big chain stores. *le sigh*

I'm happy wherever books are and I've adapted, but a little part of me mourns for the small stores.

[moblues]

Thanks emeraldcite. It's just going to take a while to set in, I guess. My wife hates reading (she does it for a living as an attorney) and she was just as upset as I was with this news. She buys at least three books everytime we go (I should say went--sigh) there, just to let each of them collect dust on her bookshelf.




Mike

[Saundra Julian]

Mike,
We just moved to Oswego about a year ago so I haven't had a chance to explore all the great old shops in Naperville...sorry I missed that one.

[moblues]

Hi Aubrey. You're right. These places are cozy. They make you feel like you're sitting in front of a fireplace during a brazen winter night's chill with a comforter that your grandmother lovingly made for you.

Ah, Paris ...




Mike

[c2ckim]

That truely is a bummer. If I had to get lost in any kind of store imaginable I'd pick a book store.:cry:

[moblues]

Hi Sandra. Even though BookZeller was supposed to stay open until November, the sales clerk last night said that they were closing October 8th. You still have time to visit. Plus we have great restaurants.




Mike

[Serena Casey]

I feel your pain. There are no book stores at all within 50 miles of here.

[Lilybiz]

Moblues, I feel your pain. I love the musty, smelly, treasure of a great used book store.

The only thing we can do to keep the old, independent and used book stores open is to shop in them, and that means not shopping in the chain stores. Trouble is, the chain stores often have better prices because they get volume discounts.

Which come out of the writer's pocket...

Which is why writers can't afford to pay full price.

Oh dear dog (whose blog have I been reading?), what a vicious circle.

[moblues]

c2ckim, Serena Casey, and aertep: Great posts.

You know, just like the recording industry allowed the audio casette to overtake the LP in that medium, and the DVD overtook VHS, progress (is it really? whimper) is inevitable.

At least creativity can't be taken from us. Yet.




Mike

[Cassiopeia]

I can sympathize with you on this one. It seems like all the last great place with any sort of real ambiance are fading into the world of chain stores and online sites. Can't help but thinking about "You've Got Mail". Ours is a dying age when it was the thing to do when you had a couple hours at the local bookstore and then slipped off to a quiet place for coffee and biscuits. Living far away from my little home town of Rapid City South Dakota makes me long for simpler times when, People said what they meant and meant what they said. And when it was cool to hang out at the book store ;)

[jbal]

This is happening in my business as well (music equipment), the small locals getting swallowed by mega chains. It sucks, but it's happening all over.
We're an indie that's still hanging on though.

[DamaNegra]

Yeah y'all keep on making fun of us who have to purchase hardcover books at $300 pesos, $200 if we're lucky. Paperbacks start at $80 pesos.

[moblues]

Casi--my wife loves South Dakota. We stayed in Rapid City last year.

jbal--I've been a musician for (OMG) 29 years. Hang on for as long as you can.

DamaNegra--I didn't, nor would I ever, make fun of anyone in any circumstance on this board. Period. That would be hurtful and cheap.



Mike

[Carrie in PA]

That stinks about the bookstore. My closest bookstore is 45 miles away and it's one of the chain stores.

My library blows chunks, too.

I hope you can find another great spot!

[moblues]

Thanks Carrie. I'm already scheming. This is never, ever, a good thing. I'm already calculating rental costs (steep) vs. sales returns (spare). I can see why they made this decision. I'm still thinking ...




Mike

[Cassiopeia]

Casi--my wife loves South Dakota. We stayed in Radid City last year.

jbal--I've been a musician for (OMG) 29 years. Hang on for as long as you can.

DamaNegra--I didn't, nor would I ever, make fun of anyone in any circumstance on this board. Period. That would be hurtful and cheap.



MikeI am in Utah now but I do get to missing South Dakota. I would have said I miss home but Utah is now my home and I love my rockies. Yet living in the big city isn't the same. And somehow...barnes and noble or borders just doesn't have the same ambiance.

[moblues]

Yet living in the big city isn't the same. And somehow...barnes and noble or borders just doesn't have the same ambiance.
This is what is breaking my heart. I lived in Chicago for 39 years--downtown almost ten. It's the charm of this tiny little bookstore that we loved. We've only lived here in Naperville for five years. The population is a little over 130,000.

It's almost like the loss of innocence.





Mike

[Cassiopeia]

This is what is breaking my heart. I lived in Chicago for 39 years--downtown almost ten. It's the charm of this tiny little bookstore that we loved. We've only lived here in Naperville for five years. The population is a little over 130,000.

It's almost like the loss of innocence.





MikeIt isn't almost like the loss of innocence, it IS the loss of innocence. And it is permeating just about every aspect of our lives. I am taking a class at the community college...one of five that studies film genres and all that. We have been watching black and white films to start and let me tell you, it makes me homesick for my grandpa and grandma as this was their era. With it came the beauty of their personalities and the essence of their lifestyle.

Every decade that passes takes with it the older values and ways. Simpler times deminish in favour of expedience and thrill. We just watched, "It Happened One Night" and I swear I fell in love with Clark Gable.

*sigh* what will we do?

[Lilybiz]

I think it's the lament of every generation.

[moblues]

We just watched, "It Happened One Night" and I swear I fell in love with Clark Gable.
I'm not kidding when I say that this is my favorite movie of all time. It was magic whenever he shared the screen with Myrna Loy. My next favorite would be My Man Godfrey (William Powell version).




Mike

[Aesposito]

Mike,

I live in Lisle, know the bookstore well, and am totally bummed by your news. But I guess that's to be expected when you have a shiny, ginormous 3-story Barnes and Noble a block away......sigh....

Audrey

[moblues]

I know you're right, Audrey. It still hurts.

I promise that I won't whine about it any more.

Let's just write. Be careful on Monday's solemn anniversary. (I'm sorry, I didn't know how else to say it).


Love and peace.




Mike

[Cassiopeia]

I'm not kidding when I say that this is my favorite movie of all time. It was magic whenever he shared the screen with Myrna Loy. My next favorite would be My Man Godfrey (William Powell version).




Mike Now, do you mean Claudette Colbert?

[moblues]

Now, do you mean Claudette Colbert?

D'oh. Yup.




Mike

[Cassiopeia]

D'oh. Yup.




Mike:D The only reason I know her name is it will be required for the test! ;)