I can still remember the first time I went to a Borders. My family would would always stop at these mega bookstores on our trips to the Chicago area. Growing up in central Illinois in 80's and 90's meant you were basically limited to the tiny Waldenbooks and B. Daltons in the mall. I had the inventories of these stores memorized by the time I was ten, and hardly ever just stumbled upon a new book by chance. I was dumbfounded, walking into my first Borders with all those books, and movies, and music! It was just heaven. So this week has been bittersweet for me. With every trip to Borders I have found some lovely books to take home (that sadly, I would not be able to afford at list price), but it also hurts my soul to see all the empty shelves, the cafe tables and shopping baskets put up for sale.
I know that there is still a myriad of ways to read, find, and buy books, (and that Borders was a big bad chain store) but there was just something so nice about having them gathered together, with place to drink coffee, buy a cute card, listen to authors, and browse and browse and browse.
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