I miss bookstores...

Rachel Udin · Aug 18, 2012

I know it'll sound really strange, but I really do miss bookstores. See, the Borders closed down the street (Bankrupt, ya know), so I can't browse anymore. The Barnes and Nobles moved away. And the small book sellers are a bit far from me.

I like the act of browsing shelves, fan girling over the smell of ink on paper, and glue in the binding, and accidentally finding something new I never would have picked up or known have existed.

It's not that I dislike e-books or amazon, but sometimes I feel a little pigeon-holed into seeing the same books types over and over again. I love my accidental finds, seeing how much the bookstore is stocking, exploring covers, skimming author notes, what authors are signing in the store, seeing the book sellers and silently having de/illusions of seeing my book on that shelf.

Plus they don't stock the shelves quite like they used to since so much business is done online, which just makes me sad.

I feel like a fogie, but really, bookstores back in the day when books were fighting for room on the shelves and they didn't stock them with just the sure bets were a lot of fun to explore. I wish I could get that experience again. But I'm not sure many are left who share that deep sense of nostalgia?

This finding books online thing doesn't have the same satisfaction of the accidental find. I want that again.

maxmordon · Aug 18, 2012

I agree, this why I appreciate the e-Book phenomenon hasn't here hit as much as in the US and Western Europe. Sometimes it's the journey what matters and not the goal.

juniper · Aug 18, 2012

Rachel Udin said:
I know it'll sound really strange, but I really do miss bookstores .
... not sure many are left who share that deep sense of nostalgia?

Don't think that's strange at all. I imagine most readers miss having nearby bookstores. Too bad so many kids will grow up without them.

There used to be a Borders 2 miles away from me. Now the closest B&N is about 13. Powells (biggest independent new/used bookstore in the world!) is about the same but have to negotiate downtown traffic to get there. It's totally worth the trip - but not the same as having one to just pop in on.

I can spend hours in a bookstore, just looking, exploring, skimming - totally different experience from shopping online.

luxisufeili · Aug 18, 2012

Absolutely agree. I feel so blind when browsing places like Amazon.

It's like being in a forest vs looking at postcards.

maxmordon · Aug 18, 2012

Considering how much Borders and B&N helped the disappearance of independent bookstores and how they have a spoon of their own medicine by Amazon, is there a small chance of independent bookstores to appear once US economy get in shape or is that wishful thinking?

WildScribe · Aug 18, 2012

Possibly, Max. I don't know that I would count on it, but it's a nice thought.

There are no bookstores in my town, and haven't ever been as far as I know. If you want books, you have Kmart, Safeway, Target, etc, and that's it. Nearest B&N is 20 miles away, as are the nearest indie bookstores, which are all Christian bookstores. You have to go about 25-30 miles to get to the first general indie bookstores.

I visit B&N fairly often, but don't find it as enchanting as I once did. Now, my favorite way to find new (often old!) books is through a HUGE used book store about 45 miles away. We head to that town for beach days or other fun things from time to time, and I will haul in the used books I bought last time and sell them back. Their selection is sometimes really funky, and I've found some pretty old books there that I might never have discovered otherwise.

For those that can't seem to find the good ones anymore, Goodreads is pretty cool.

Kerosene · Aug 18, 2012

I've never been a fan of book stores, let alone reading. (Writer, but doesn't like to read a lot. Kill me)

Most of the borders went out of business and the B&A's are slowly going out in my town.
They also are small and cramped.

I do have fond memories of this one bookstore where I could go up on the second story and browse the fantasy section, when it was dead quiet in the later hours of the night.

I really can't hate online book buying. Other than the wait, prices are cheap, sometime digital and I can get new/used.

cmi0616 · Aug 18, 2012

Not strange at all. I don't know what I'd do if the Barnes and Nobles down the street from me closed. Although, even though I don't read on an e-reader, I do find myself buying more and more books online. Getting them used for under 5 dollars can be very appealing as opposed to spending 20 on something you find in a regular bookstore.

rwm4768 · Aug 18, 2012

I've never spent much time in bookstores, but I'm quite stingy with spending my money. I get most of my books from the library. Maybe when I have more money, I'll actually buy books.

LJD · Aug 18, 2012

I love bookstores and live in a major city that has many. But most of the ones here are mega-stores owned by the same company (Chapters/Indigo) and are all similar to one another. Still, it's one of the few things that reliably lifts my mood. I feel a bit guilty, since I bought my e-reader, that I go to the bookstore but rarely actually make a purchase.

I also like BMV, which is a small chain here that sells discounted books. They have late hours, so it is a nice place to browse after a date.

I can't really remember the days of smaller bookstores. The mammoth Chapters/Indigos popped up when I was in middle school, about 15 years ago.

Lady Cat · Aug 18, 2012

We have an independent bookstore mid-town. We locals are pretty faithful to it, which is how it's lasted where others have failed. It helps when they're willing to order anything that they don't carry.

Jessianodel · Aug 18, 2012

I've always wanted to live near a smaller bookstore rather than a large chain. To be honest I wasn't that upset Borders bankrupted because I always preferred B&N. Borders just felt too warehouse-y to me. But it sucks that there are no bookstores around anymore. The nearest one is like an hour bus ride away...

Beachgirl · Aug 18, 2012

I love bookstores. I used to browse in B&N for hours, but that has lost some of its appeal lately. We have a HUGE used bookstore called Chamblins Bookmine about 30 minutes away and we go over to it about once a month. This place has been around forever and just kind of grew into the buildings around it, so now they're all connected by awkward little passageways. Books are everywhere. Shelves, stacks, nooks, crannies, closets. You can easily get lost in the place and there are sections for just about any subject you could ever imagine. Its like a book lover's Nirvana.

Sunflowerrei · Aug 18, 2012

I live in between two Barnes and Nobles, which I don't frequent nearly as much as I should. I'm holding my next book purchase hostage until I finish writing this draft. I love the Strand in the city, but it's far and more than an hour on the subway.

MarkQuinn · Aug 18, 2012

I was under the impression that the modern bookstore with all of its coffee and pastries was doing very well and that it was precisely because these companies saw how the trend was moving online that they changed in the first place. Now we must say goodbye to these too?

Wasn't it enough that they closed all the nearby video stores? I miss those spur of the moment drives with my girlfriend to the video store.

One day our food will be delivered via replicator technology and I won't even be able to go to the supermarket. I love going to the supermarket.

Coop720 · Aug 18, 2012

Going to Waterstones when I want a new book is just the best experience! I could spend a whole day in there looking at books I want to buy haha

It just sucks some people don't feel the same.

Julie Ambrose · Aug 19, 2012

Hi Rachel Udin,

I so totally agree. The experience of browsing, the accidental gems — I loved bookstores! It's definitely not worth trying that at Amazon; the lists are too huge and the search ordering is way too unwieldy.

But can I give a little plug here for GoodReads? Increasingly I go there for the random, the off-kilter and the unexpected. Other people's reviews can be a great way to find unusual gems. I've only just started getting involved so don't have many friends on my list (which limits how many lists and reviews I see), but it was a fantastic eye-opener to realise I could look in 'fantasy of manners' (what a great subgenre) and look for the best reviewed books before going across to Amazon and sampling their front pages. I bought several books that way this week; all were more-or-less random finds based on a little bit of poking around. In some ways it was better than the old fashioned bookstore because I could see what other readers thought. It's really worth getting into if you can be bothered setting yourself up there (it's slow to start, but once you've inputted your favourite books and rated them, things start to roll).

Happy hunting!
Julie

fireluxlou · Aug 19, 2012

In my town we have WH Smiths, The Local Bookshop, Bill's Bookshop and a small local chain bookshop (the last two are sat next to each other).

The shops in this town are quite small so they haven't the room to store loads of books, plus the bigger the store and storage the rent a month for the shop goes up by £100-£150 or maybe more because of the landlords.

The local chain bookshop searched each shop for a shop with enough storage room, the only one was next to Bill's Bookshop and they said it was the cheapest they could get it because all the other shops needed extensive work doing to them due to mould etc and crappy landlords.

They also said it's not convienient and good business these days to have loads of books in the back or on the shelves (they have small sections for each market like YA is up the back like two bookcases worth). Because there's a chance they won't get sold so it leads them into debt if they aren't earning back what they sell (they said an example was The Local Bookshop that has sparse shelves) and banks aren't lending these days so it's not good business sense to stock up on all sorts of titles without assurance they will sell.

My town does have four bookshops which is funny to me as the high street here is 1 small street plus a side alley. And we have about 8+ coffee shops and tea rooms.

bearilou · Aug 19, 2012

I'm envious of anyone who lives 20 minutes from a bookstore considering I have to drive 45 minutes to my nearest bookstore or even Walmart. :/

CJ.Wolfe · Aug 19, 2012

Rachel Udin said:
I know it'll sound really strange, but I really do miss bookstores. See, the Borders closed down the street (Bankrupt, ya know), so I can't browse anymore. The Barnes and Nobles moved away. And the small book sellers are a bit far from me.

I like the act of browsing shelves, fan girling over the smell of ink on paper, and glue in the binding, and accidentally finding something new I never would have picked up or known have existed.

It's not that I dislike e-books or amazon, but sometimes I feel a little pigeon-holed into seeing the same books types over and over again. I love my accidental finds, seeing how much the bookstore is stocking, exploring covers, skimming author notes, what authors are signing in the store, seeing the book sellers and silently having de/illusions of seeing my book on that shelf.

Plus they don't stock the shelves quite like they used to since so much business is done online, which just makes me sad.

I feel like a fogie, but really, bookstores back in the day when books were fighting for room on the shelves and they didn't stock them with just the sure bets were a lot of fun to explore. I wish I could get that experience again. But I'm not sure many are left who share that deep sense of nostalgia?

This finding books online thing doesn't have the same satisfaction of the accidental find. I want that again.

This completely describes my feelings when Borders closed down.

I completely agree with you. At my uni, there is a bookstore. Most of it is school books, but there is a small selection of non-fiction that I don't mind going through. It's not much, but I go in there a lot because it smells like books and it has that really nice quiet feel to it. Like the books are just waiting in anticipation for you to pick them up and discover that you like them.

Alessandra Kelley · Aug 19, 2012

We live where we live because of bookstores. The University of Chicago may be an uncaring behemoth which runs roughshod over the neighborhood to get what it wants, but it supports some magnificent bookstores.

Apart from the University libraries (which are great but generally off-limits to non-University personnel), our local branch library is pretty small and thin (although housed in a beautiful little neoclassical building), but the city libraries overall are good.

We have an incredible independent bookstore, the Seminary Co-op / 57th Street Books, with two branches in our neighborhood and another off in the wilds of the North Side at the Newbery Library. The Seminary Co-op, although cramped, is jammed to the rafters with books, including one of the best selections of academic books east of the Mississippi. 57th Street Books has one of the best children's books sections in the city, and a great selection of science fiction, poetry, music, and humor books.

We have two independent used bookstores within half a block of each other.

O'Gara and Wilson's focuses on antiquarian books, and does a great side business in awesome old things; I've seen World's Columbian Exposition souvenirs, vintage Girl Scout gear, Victorian fire extinguishers, a magnificent working hand-cranked phonograph, ancient presidential campaign buttons, etc.

Powell's Used Books is not connected to the famous Powell's of Portland, Oregon, except that it was founded by the same person. It has a great selection of science fiction and mysteries and a lot of fascinating art and academic overstocks.

There's also a comics shop, and the University bookstore, which is an ordinary B&N, a rather disappointing replacement for the terrific independent store it used to have. The ratio of books to dumb doodads like sweatshirts and coffee mugs is almost exactly reversed now, from 5:1 to 1:5.

None of these stores are more than fifteen minute's *walk* from our house.

We have had other bookstores come and go, but these old-timers have hung on. They built an ugly modern building a few years back for a Borders, two minute's walk from our home. I vowed to never buy a book there, however tempting, although I did buy magazines unavailable at our independent stores. I didn't even buy books from them when they went out of business. Our independent bookstores are too important.

There was a nice theological secondhand bookstore over by some of the neighborhood seminaries for a while, but it's gone now.

I have never been happy living away from libraries and book stores. Growing up, I always knew where the nearest ones were. They are in my opinion an essential amenity of civilisation.

seun · Aug 19, 2012

I live in a city of just under 200,000 people. There are no bookshops in the main shopping centre and (as far as I know) none in a slightly smaller shopping area a few miles from the centre of town. We've got a Waterstones and a Smiths although Smiths now keep their books right down the back. Obviously the gossip magazines and the sweets are more important.

A sign of the times or just the city I live in?

Chris P · Aug 19, 2012

I miss bookstores too. It's much more difficult for me to take a chance on something new when I can't physically hold it in my hands and look it over. I'll download free ebooks sometimes, but I only do that because they are free.

Possibly a sign of the times, Seun. In Mississippi, the Barnes and Noble cut their inventory by more than half to make way for Miss St. Univ. hoodies and cowbells. The city has about 20K students and another 15-20K residents, and they can't keep a book store profitable. The next store (Books-a-Dozen) was 30 minutes away, and the nearest one from there was an hour. Beyond that? It was a 2-2.5 hour trip to Memphis or Jackson MS for a bookstore, and even those were having troubles too.

I agree, this why I appreciate the e-Book phenomenon hasn't here hit as much as in the US and Western Europe. Sometimes it's the journey what matters and not the goal.

I'm currently in Uganda, and us aid workers and ex-pats here love love LOVE ebooks. Yes, there is a ton of file sharing going on, but that's a different matter. There are a couple bookstores that I know of in Kampala, and they are so-so. For print books, we mostly pass them around to each other. We can get our hands on tons of cheap, used non-fiction that has been donated by charities across the world. I myself have downloaded a bunch of public-domain free ebooks, which I read on my computer or on my phone.

Bufty · Aug 19, 2012

I'm surprised, Seun. My home city is smaller than yours but we still have a couple of large bookshops in the town centre plus Smiths, which has a large book area also at the back but easily accessed. I suspect the fast-sellers to the in-and-outers (sweets, magazines drinks, etc.,) are understandably given the prime access space at the front and wide-open access.

seun said:
I live in a city of just under 200,000 people. There are no bookshops in the main shopping centre and (as far as I know) none in a slightly smaller shopping area a few miles from the centre of town. We've got a Waterstones and a Smiths although Smiths now keep their books right down the back. Obviously the gossip magazines and the sweets are more important.

A sign of the times or just the city I live in?

crunchyblanket · Aug 19, 2012

We've got a Waterstones and a Smiths although Smiths now keep their books right down the back. Obviously the gossip magazines and the sweets are more important.

I worked at the Smiths in Barnet for a few years whilst at Uni, and the fight to keep the book-space was constant. Magazines and films constantly encroached, and I nearly wept when the Sci Fi/Horror section was truncated in favour of Tragic Life Stories (or, as we called it, misery porn.) Smith's isn't a credible bookshop - it's basically a jack of all trades, selling whatever mishmash it can get away with in order to make money. (We had two stores, one for books/DVD's/magazines/sweets + drinks, and another for cards/stationary/lottery, but in the end they all sold more or less the same junk.)

I hate Smiths. Three years of total misery.

We've got a Waterstones near us, which isn't bad, although the selection's not great (it's a fairly small store.) Where I used to live, in Elephant and Castle, there were about three second hand bookshops which were glorious places - old book smell and a selection that would make your head spin. Paperbacks for 60p! Bargainous. I went back there recently and two are closed, while the other's a Gregg's.

I went to Portland, Oregon last year and they've got a gigantic bookstore that is basically heaven on earth (Powell's)

I miss bookstores...

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