tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post86815258157907414..comments2024-01-08T13:43:58.220-05:00Comments on Brillig: Barnes & BordersThe Brillig Bloggerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07886394602447693115noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-52205830775358490142012-01-07T20:00:09.631-05:002012-01-07T20:00:09.631-05:00Also closed at the end of 2011 is the East Lansing...Also closed at the end of 2011 is the East Lansing location of Barnes & Noble, directly across the street from Michigan State University. This means that for the first time in at least 4 decades -- maybe since "the modern era," whatever that means -- there is no general bookstore within walking distance of the 40,000 student campus. (There is no newsstand or magazine outlet left, either; I can only think of four places left in our university town where one can buy a newspaper.) <br /><br />I didn't know about the Seattle and Georgetown closings until I read your report. I suspect what this all adds up to is the younger generation is not buying physical books in sufficient quantity to support a retail business. We've already seen this with CDs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-72673905541803009932012-01-05T11:09:13.862-05:002012-01-05T11:09:13.862-05:00I feel like I have to take this two ways: as a boo...I feel like I have to take this two ways: as a book-lover, and a book-writer. As a book-lover, it's a little depressing that I might have to go further than normal to find a bookstore (though, for me, a BAM opened up in the exact space at the mall where Borders just closed.) Also, I live way out in the boonies, so driving a distance for a good bookstore (emphasis on "good") has always meant 30 miles to Pittsburgh. As a book-writer, though, it only goads me further into thinking how writers and publishers need to find a way to work with the e-book trend. It is clearly not going away. Libraries, slam-full of free books, have been struggling even longer than book stores. So the question remains: what are we going to do about it?Daniel Dydekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04399918301512480077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-42748505863868981392012-01-03T21:02:50.874-05:002012-01-03T21:02:50.874-05:00I was stunned to hear the University area bookstor...I was stunned to hear the University area bookstore in Seattle was closing. If a bookstore can't survive in a college area, where you not only have students but individuals who want to live in a vibrantly intellectual area, what's left?<br /><br />Over the holidays we discussed the state of bookstores in general (as a lot of books are given as gifts in my house.) Perhaps it's time for smaller, mall-like stores to come back, stores that don't require that many employees but stock an amazing range for their size.<br /><br />Waldenbooks and B. Dalton's were always on my list to visit along with the independents in my town in the suburbs. When I was in the city, I knew I could always stop at the local bookstores. I miss Brentano's, the Doubleday bookstore on 53rd st., and even Scribner's from when I was a child. Scribner's always seemed sacred, having been the publisher of so many of my idols.<br /><br />B&N has become more of a general store now. I couldn't even find decent calendars there this year. Every time there's some sort of reshuffling or change, I get the feeling the bookstore is rushing to keep up with some impossible goal they see, while leaving the actual readers and bookstore devotees behind in the dust.<br /><br />TessaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3001434439078518468.post-9620655018684778722012-01-03T12:35:07.193-05:002012-01-03T12:35:07.193-05:00Very depressing to hear that the Georgetown B&...Very depressing to hear that the Georgetown B&N is closing. When I lived in DC I went there a couple of times a week. Plus there was an elite literary bookstore also on M that I can't remember the name of. And Kramers and Politics and Prose, which I never really liked because they were condescending. Although I did love the coffee shop there. And I knew Olssen's was doomed when The Prophet of Yonwood came out and I went to the downtown Olssen's to buy it, specifically to patronize an indie store. They didn't have it. I made them look it up and they told me I must have dreamed it. Couldn't find it anywhere. I went out to the Bethesda B&N the next day and got one off the big stack face up on a table. AND the Olssen's in Crystal City once didn't have a Trollope I wanted, in fact didn't have any Trollopes, and the clerk didn't know who Trollope was. AND they didn't have The Two Towers on there shelf, which is pretty much inexcusable. <br />I got a Nook for Christmas and ordered Legend, but I find I can't lose myself in it, and I don't think it's the book. I think it's the platform.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04621339612834832188noreply@blogger.com