Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The Loss of a Bookstore
Not so long ago, most towns had several specialized stores-- a bookstore, a toy store, a men's clothing store, a small electronics store. Now, most of them are gone, swept away by the tide of cheaper goods sold at big-box stores.
What I miss most are the book stores. In my home town, there was a store called "Reading in the Park" which was small but packed with good books. I often sat on a stool and browsed, then bought. I knew the people who ran it, and they knew me.
Books are cheaper at the big stores we have now. Still... the experience is not the same.
Were we wrong to change our society so strikingly to get the cheapest things?
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Yes. I have always believed that certain people do certain things well and this is a wonderful example. You lose a lot when someone or something tries to be everything to everybody. I love going to someone who knows what they are doing to a fault.
# posted by 
: 12:09 AM
: 12:09 AM
My favorite bookstore is a chain, but a chain that sells used books for lower prices.
I am also told there is some sort of government-run information dispensing facility, but it is likely staffed by homosexual transgender communists out to drink good American blood and convert it into fine French wine. I like that place. It is often peopled by others who are interested in this "reading" and will gladly talk in excited, hushed whispers about said hobby.
That aside, my favorite finds have still been in the "used" or "estate sale" sections of small-town bookstores, because often it's the weirdos that like weird fiction that die alone and have their entire collections donated to the store by family members unaware of the literary treasures they're giving away. I have several old E.R. Burroughs and R.E. Howard prints from doing this.
I am also told there is some sort of government-run information dispensing facility, but it is likely staffed by homosexual transgender communists out to drink good American blood and convert it into fine French wine. I like that place. It is often peopled by others who are interested in this "reading" and will gladly talk in excited, hushed whispers about said hobby.
That aside, my favorite finds have still been in the "used" or "estate sale" sections of small-town bookstores, because often it's the weirdos that like weird fiction that die alone and have their entire collections donated to the store by family members unaware of the literary treasures they're giving away. I have several old E.R. Burroughs and R.E. Howard prints from doing this.
I do not know of this old bookstore. My mother favored our visiting the public library or buying books through the Scholastic Book sales at school.
I now buy books at all types of stores, especially the airport, but used book stores and the occassional big box book store. Those tend to get passed along to friends once I am done reading.
I now buy books at all types of stores, especially the airport, but used book stores and the occassional big box book store. Those tend to get passed along to friends once I am done reading.
But if the book store doesn't close, then how would Meg Ryan be able to find her true love, Super Store Tycoon, Tom Hanks?
Seriously, though, I do miss the nostalgia of the local book store. However, I do think there is still a market out there for used books, where these mom and pops could thrive. See Denton's Recycled Books.
Seriously, though, I do miss the nostalgia of the local book store. However, I do think there is still a market out there for used books, where these mom and pops could thrive. See Denton's Recycled Books.
Yes, we are always looking for the cheapest price, for everything: just look at Wal-Mart's success.
There's very little anyone can do to halt the big-box stores coming in, unless we are willing to fight the fight to keep them AND stick faithfully to our principles of only buying from mom-n-pop, local stores. I remember I swore I would never buy anything except coffee or maybe magazines at Barnes & Noble, when they came to Charlottesville (home, supposedly, of more local bookstores than anywhere else in the country!).
And I stuck to my resolve for awhile . . . but somewhere along the line I caved, and bought a book at Barnes & Noble. Which is what B& N knows you will do, by putting a cafe in the bookstore and by having those sales.
I am nostalgic for the bookstore of my childhood, too . . . with the librarian-like lady who owned it with her husband, and the big lazy black dog that slept in the entranceway, and the creaking wood floors and the radiators in the winter . . . but capitalism marches on and claims those places, doesn't it?
There's very little anyone can do to halt the big-box stores coming in, unless we are willing to fight the fight to keep them AND stick faithfully to our principles of only buying from mom-n-pop, local stores. I remember I swore I would never buy anything except coffee or maybe magazines at Barnes & Noble, when they came to Charlottesville (home, supposedly, of more local bookstores than anywhere else in the country!).
And I stuck to my resolve for awhile . . . but somewhere along the line I caved, and bought a book at Barnes & Noble. Which is what B& N knows you will do, by putting a cafe in the bookstore and by having those sales.
I am nostalgic for the bookstore of my childhood, too . . . with the librarian-like lady who owned it with her husband, and the big lazy black dog that slept in the entranceway, and the creaking wood floors and the radiators in the winter . . . but capitalism marches on and claims those places, doesn't it?
# posted by : 3:15 PM
: 3:15 PM
Incidentally, my favorite independent book store, River City Books in Northfield, MN (of course) closed over the summer.
Lane - R.E. Howard and I are alma fraters.
Everybody Else - Progress, moving forward, whatever you want to call it, is not wrong. It is merely a fact. Was it wrong for English to change so drastically over the past millennium, eliminating four letters and all but a handful of monosyllabic words from its Germanic roots? Was it wrong for the federal government to require banks to make student loans, opening up education to the masses and drastically reducing the value of the high school diploma? Was it wrong for Europe to pull out of Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, leaving behind dozens of "states" with randomly drawn borders and very little inkling of how to resist corruption and tyranny?
Or did they just happen and now we have to deal with the consequences?
I hear all these tales of the fabled mom-n-pop store of old, with its friendly service, honest prices, and commitment to community values. Maybe those existed once, but they have gone the way of the dodo. Fox Books didn't kill The Shop Around the Corner; Kathleen Kelly killed it. How? By offering horrible customer service.
I once returned a box of cereal to Wal*Mart after I opened the plastic bag. "What was wrong with it?" the customer service girl asked me, politely. I told her I had intended to get Fruity Pebbles, not Coco Pebbles. "OK, no problem." She put the box in a basket behind the counter, let me get a box of Fruity Pebbles, and we both went on happily ever after.
Another time, I bought a 20-ounce Coke Zero from an independent grocery store. I stepped outside, realized it was a Cherry Coke Zero (shopping is hard), and stepped back inside. Since I hadn't opened it, I offered a trade-in. The woman behind the counter pointed at the "All Sales Final" sign.
To be sure, not every mom-n-pop is like the independent grocery store, but too many are. I can deal with paying higher prices, but not if I'm paying higher prices and enduring worse customer service. Remember: Sam Walton's small-town Five and Dime grew through good deals and good customer service.
Everybody Else - Progress, moving forward, whatever you want to call it, is not wrong. It is merely a fact. Was it wrong for English to change so drastically over the past millennium, eliminating four letters and all but a handful of monosyllabic words from its Germanic roots? Was it wrong for the federal government to require banks to make student loans, opening up education to the masses and drastically reducing the value of the high school diploma? Was it wrong for Europe to pull out of Africa in the 1960s and 1970s, leaving behind dozens of "states" with randomly drawn borders and very little inkling of how to resist corruption and tyranny?
Or did they just happen and now we have to deal with the consequences?
I hear all these tales of the fabled mom-n-pop store of old, with its friendly service, honest prices, and commitment to community values. Maybe those existed once, but they have gone the way of the dodo. Fox Books didn't kill The Shop Around the Corner; Kathleen Kelly killed it. How? By offering horrible customer service.
I once returned a box of cereal to Wal*Mart after I opened the plastic bag. "What was wrong with it?" the customer service girl asked me, politely. I told her I had intended to get Fruity Pebbles, not Coco Pebbles. "OK, no problem." She put the box in a basket behind the counter, let me get a box of Fruity Pebbles, and we both went on happily ever after.
Another time, I bought a 20-ounce Coke Zero from an independent grocery store. I stepped outside, realized it was a Cherry Coke Zero (shopping is hard), and stepped back inside. Since I hadn't opened it, I offered a trade-in. The woman behind the counter pointed at the "All Sales Final" sign.
To be sure, not every mom-n-pop is like the independent grocery store, but too many are. I can deal with paying higher prices, but not if I'm paying higher prices and enduring worse customer service. Remember: Sam Walton's small-town Five and Dime grew through good deals and good customer service.
PS - Please don't think I'm a Wal*Mart apologist. I long for the return of the mom-n-pop bookstore just like everybody else. But if that's ever going to happen, the store owners need to stop whining about how Wal*Mart is killing them and start stealing Wal*Mart's customer service secrets. Maybe you can't compete with their prices, but you can always compete with their customer service.
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