The Borders Nightmare

Everyone has heard about the bankruptcy that Border has been going through. The Hell that the poor employees are facing. The debts that the retailer owes publishers. It's a crushing blow to the industry and to our society.

I went to my local Borders this weekend and came away depressed and feeling sick. It was a free-for-all, with giddy shoppers grabbing up all the discounted items as fast as they could. The stuff was only 20% off. Why the hell couldn't they have shopped there more often before this mess?

Bookstores have always been sacred to me. All my life I've gone to them. Book-buying makes me happy. Ordering online is all right, but nothing compares to browsing books and picking them up and looking them over. Sure you can browse online selections, but that's like comparing cybersex to the real thing.

Are bookstores really going to become extinct? Some say no, but others think it's an inevitability. I can barely stand the thought. And I guarantee that no matter how much you love your Kindle or whatever device you read with, you'll miss the stores.

I tried to get people to go to drive-in theaters when attendance was getting poor. Most looked at me like I was stupid or something. Now each and every person I know misses them. Badly.

I loved Borders. I would drive past two Barnes and Noble stores to get to the closest Borders. I have absolutely nothing against B&N, but I liked Borders more. Borders had a horror section and I enjoyed the atmosphere in there more than in B&N. It seemed like there were more readers in Borders and fewer pretentious twits trying to act literary than in Barnes and Noble.

Now I'll be shopping more at Barnes and Noble. Sure, it will cost me more than buying online. I can stand the extra money spent. I can't stand the thought of having no more bookstores to shop at.

I'm asking you guys to try to do the same, and if you must order online, please, please, please use Barnes and Noble instead of Amazon. Please support a corporation that offers actual stores to buy books at.

I think the business model of a huge store with sky-high rent has become obsolete. Maybe the old Walden Books stores were a lot smarter. They sure were smaller and had a much lower overhead.

I never liked that people could wander in to a bookstore and sit down in a comfortable chair and read for free. It's stupid. Can you go to a restaurant and eat for free? How about free gas at the local station? I always saw kids sitting around at Borders reading graphic novels. I hated it.

At Borders the other night, everyone was acting high and joyous. It was a celebration. Save a few bucks on stuff. Whoopie. The employees didn't look in a very celebratory mood. They looked like they were at a funeral. Their own funeral.

Please keep buying books. Please support your local economy and buy in your town. Please help keep conventional publishing and bookstores alive.