From the Bellevue Reporter:
I would like to bring up the idea that bookstores such as Barnes and Noble should receive some form of subsidy to help them stay in business. As a Western Washington University student, and a Bellevue resident, I was saddened to return home and stop by Crossroads only to find out the Barnes and Noble went out of business with little to no notice. Books were an integral part of my life as a childhood and I would hate to see bookstores and libraries become the new Blockbuster.
Link to the rest at the Bellevue Reporter and thanks to Dave for the tip.
PG wonders if they have iPads at Western Washington University. Ebooks (except for textbooks) are also very friendly to a student budget. Unfortunately, textbooks in any form have a long tradition of being hostile to student budgets.
The Cross Roads B&N was the B&N closest to the Microsoft campus and I went there quite often because it had the best collection of computing books around.
Tower Books in downtown Bellevue used to be the best, but it closed long ago. I spent a lot of money at Tower when I was a junior engineer, trying to figure out what everyone was talking about. When the Bellevue B&N opened, it didn’t fill the the Tower gap. I can’t remember if Tower closed before B&N opened, probably because I had already switched to buying books from Fat Brain and Amazon, but I still regret the passing of both Tower and Crossroads B&N.
I left what I thought was a lot of money at both stores and I must say that when I see a physical book in front of me, I am more tempted to open it and find something new than I am while I am browsing Amazon, but I guess you always lose something.
Back when I was in the field, one boss had as part of her “annual evaluation criteria” the requirement that we read two computer books a month.
I duly bought two every month (actually, showed her the statement for the Safari subscription, and had them on my system for the month).
Then continued to look up anything I really needed to know on the Internet (yes, it was capital “I” at the time…)
Walk into a Starbucks or any coffee shop and take a look at what people are doing. How many are reading paper books? Newspapers? Paper magazines?
Now notice how many are using laptops or eReaders.
Phones and tablets even more.
It’s all reading but the cult of pulp won’t give up the FUD.
“Unfortunately, textbooks in any form have a long tradition of being hostile to student budgets.”
– And backs.
Any business that is no longer relevant or can’t manage their resources deserves to go out of business. No one deserves a living; it has to be earned. That’s capitalism, as is failed businesses closing. Physical books are not a necessity, especially with the internet and ebooks. And I didn’t see B&N having any sympathy on the bookstores they drove out of business. Business failures and competition mean improvements. If B&N can’t manage to save their own stores, they deserve to die. Let natural selection run its course on the business. Whatever replaces it will likely be better.
So… let me get this straight. I’m working 40 hours a week to keep a roof over my head and food on the table. The governments, between city, county, state, and federal, already take well over half of my income, between income tax, social security that I’ll never see a penny of, property tax, sales tax, gasoline taxes, extra fees on my cell phone bills, mandatory contributions on my water bill…
You think I should gleefully hand over some of what remains so you can choose what businesses you want to stay open, even though you weren’t spending enough money there to keep them in business?
college kids, I swear. The wet cold fish to the face called “student loans” is gonna smack you upside the head soon, and you haven’t a clue. I know; I was one, once.
Kinda kills any sympathy you might’ve had for their future plight, huh?
So, I would like to ask everyone what value we put on reading and does it deserve additional funds to improve our libraries and prevent bookstores from disappearing?
1. None.
2. No.
Mall = high rent. No matter what corner of it you have. As a result, malls are increasingly non-competitive, too.
If that B&N couldn’t make it, none of them can. It was one of the smaller ones, so it didnt have as high a rental or overhead space, was on the corner of a thriving mall with not only the food court, library, Half Price Books but also a multiscreen movie theater, grocery store, athletic supply store, giant Michaels craft store, a police substatio, Build A Bear, and several sit-down restaurants.
The last time I was in more floor space for books had been given over to tchotchkes and the Nook display was a sad drooping cardboard kiosk in the back.
Another lease not renewed. It’s not clear which party declined to do so.
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Blockbuster™ is gone. Movies are still around.
When the last Barnes and Noble closes, there will still be books available in a variety of formats from diverse sources.
If they want to keep them open maybe they should buy more from them.
And libraries and bookstores are not the same thing.
B&N crushed those that came before it and will be crushed by the one that comes after it. (I still miss BookStop.)
Oh, it is better to ask the government to spend other people’s money.
This B&N was in my old neighborhood, attached to a delightful mall that has a local-owners-only food court, a stage for local performances, a large communal game-playing area. The B&N was far, far from the foot-traffic action.
But an always-busy Half-Price Books and the King County Library open onto the food court. The library has books offered in 20 languages, and you can order any book in the system from your home computer or the library workstations, and pick it up a day later.
The loss of this B&N is not significant to the reading needs of this community — and it’s an 8 minute bus-ride to the next nearest B&N.
If your area had B&Ns one to seven miles apart (depending on traffic speed and how often the bus stops) no wonder the chain has problems…
There’s this thing. It’s called a “library.”
And oddly enough, the government provides a “subsidy” to make sure they “stay in business”.
It is nice to look at new, never-been-read books and listen to soft jazz instead of the snores of homeless people camped out on the sofas.