On the demise of Borders

I fell in love with books and bookstores when I lived away.

It took all year, but I came out in 1997 and the very first step I took was to purchase these two books at Tower Books on West End Avenue in Nashville (there's an f.y.e. there now).  Tower Books closed before Tower Records did.  Hard to believe now that they were two stand-alone buildings that shared a parking lot.

Even harder to believe that one of the Nashville Borders was just a block away.

With bachelor's degree in hand and newly poor, I spent hours browsing both the Barnes & Noble stores in the Nashville area. At Opry Mills I picked up this Joyce Carol Oates short story collection a million times.  It was in hardcover at the time, and I was in no position to spend $25 on -- well, anything, really.  Around the same time, I daydreamed that a guy I adored would buy this Alice Munro one for me.  He didn't -- and I still don't own it.

For three years before I moved home, I was the book buyer at OutLoud!, Nashville's GLBT community bookstore.  I love love love loved that job, that store and everyone I worked with.  It closed this past December; follow the link for details.  I own a million books now, and most of them came through that store.

Independent bookstores have been falling like flies the past few years, and more are threatening to do the same, so it's hugely ironic to watch one of the independents' arch nemeses shutter.  Ironic because the closure of any bookstore -- much less the 2nd largest chain in America -- is bad for the entire industry, regardless to whether management contributed more to Borders demise than anything else.

Gayle Shanks is one of the founders and still operates Changing Hands Bookstore, an independent located in Tempe, AZ.  I heard her speak at an American Booksellers Association conference a few years ago and came away genuinely appreciating her knowledge of the state of bookselling, as well as the history of independent bookselling.

There's one paragraph in this article from Changing Hands' website that only an independent bookseller could write.  It describes exactly an independent's perspective of Borders' competitive work these past 20 or so years.  A very worthwhile read.

Don't forget: locals have to support locals, wherever you live.  When in Belleville, go to Greenley's.