I don’t buy a lot of books anymore — long story — and Salt Lake is lucky enough to have a handful of good independent shops that somehow survived the corporate incursions of the ’90s, but I still thought this cartoon was deadly accurate:
I’ll be honest… I actually like Barnes and Noble, even though my buy-local instincts tell me I’m not supposed to. Borders has never done a lot for me; they never seemed to have what I was looking for and what they did have always seemed to have been lightly flogged with a weed whacker. (I’m very big on condition… if I’m shelling out ten bucks for a paperback, I want one that looks like I just plucked it off the printing press, not one that’s been creased and dog-eared just getting it out of the carton and onto the shelves.) But B&N was cool. For a faceless corporate giant and all.
It does make you wonder… many areas don’t have any book-buying alternatives except the big chain stores. If B&N goes the way of Borders — and that certainly looks likely — then what’s left? Wal-Mart? Eww. There’s always Amazon.com, but wonky “recommended for you” algorithms aren’t the same as leisurely browsing physical shelves with pleasant classic music on the PA and a cup of coffee in your hand. One more way in which the digital revolution has brought us unprecedented convenience, but at a great cost…
