I want my bookstore baaaaack

[tanithryudo]

Both the major bookstores in my city have closed. Borders, I expected, since didn't it go bankrupt or get bought out? Barnes & Noble closing surprised me though. Of course, now the closest bookstore to where I live is now in Dublin. Or Palo Alto, if I'm willing to pay the bridge toll.

Yes, yes, I know Amazon and e-books is the new wave and whatever, but the unfortunate fact that only accounts for a tiny portion of stuff that a bookstore offers. Especially since the main reasons I up and go to bookstores are:

- Manga. *Not* going to ebooks anytime soon.

- Reading new release novels to see if I like them before buying. Pretty much all of my books I've already read at least once before finally deciding on buying. How else would you know if it's a waste of money? Unfortunately, you can't preview a whole book with e-readers.

- Cafes & air conditioning... especially with the California summer creeping up.

I wonder if bookstores are having just as bad a time in college towns. I do recall the B&N in Cal closed pretty soon after I left. It would be a very sad thing for bookstores to go the way of the buggy. T_T

Comments

[ossian.insanejournal.com]

My condolences. Such a pity. It's a shame you are losing your access to books like this. I would go nuts if I didn't have any bookstores to visit. There are like 5 or 6 of them within very easy reach of me. Even though I do shop for books online, I vastly prefer buying them in person. However, with my book storage capacity all but maxed out, I will eventually have to give in and start using my eBook reader for new releases.

[tanithryudo.insanejournal.com]

*envious*

What are the major bookstores you have up north?

[ossian.insanejournal.com]

Chapters Indigo is Canada's major book retailer. They hsve like a dozen outlets in Edmonton alone. I live three blocks away from one of their smaller stores.. We don't have any American-owned book chains here that i'm aware of.

[cashew.insanejournal.com]

The only solution left is to go to libraries and borrow books. Not quite as cutting edge to new releases, but at least you won't have to shell out money for it.

Although it makes me sad that bookstores are losing their foothold. If there was one thing I liked the traditional way, it's books. Curling up with a book is just...different from curling up with a e-reader.

[tanithryudo.insanejournal.com]

Yeah, no cables. :P

No timing out to sleep mode when you get side-tracked by something else either.

And images. And color... T_T