Gasp! Horror!

[heliona]

I've just found out that Borders on Buchanan Street in Glasgow might be closing, because book sales are down thanks to online bookstores, and the fact that US sales are up, so they might be pulling out of the UK!!! They can't close down the one in Buchanan Street! We must do something. Go and buy out the bookstore, or petition, or something!!!

Comments

[jenjemeer.livejournal.com]

OMG! *faints*

I dont buy very many books there but its the ideal browsing location

[jakeybob.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, you see; therein lies the rub.

As much as I like Borders, I only use it as a bookshop if I can't find what I'm looking for somewhere else.
Why? Because it's impossible to find anything. You can go in to find something you know should be there, but find yourself in the jam section, and all they have are books about jam as far as the eye can see. Turn the corner expecting to see Modern Fiction and what do you find? More JAM.

So, either they should:
A) arrange their books in some sort of actual fashion, or
B) just give in and be a place that sells coffee, provides large chairs and free books to leaf through.

[heliona.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I don't have any problem finding the sci-fi/fantasy section!

(Actually, I must confess that I prefer the Waterstones on Sauchihall Street when it comes to being a bookstore.)

[heliona.livejournal.com]

Exactly! And loriel_eris, rosenchanted normally meet in there in the Starbucks and then browse the bookstore (and usually we can find something to buy! *g*).

It'll be the end of an era. Plus where else are we going to shop for books?! The Waterstones in Glasgow aren't as convenient.

[mlleperian.livejournal.com]

Fuuuuck.

[heliona.livejournal.com]

Uh huh!! That was my reaction!

[nimoloth.livejournal.com]

It is unfortunate, yet true - I rarely buy books in shops anymore because they never have the ones I want, but Amazon does. I think it's the future, with the exception of small novelty and/or specialist shops. I will be sorry to loose it as a browsing venue, although I am no longer there very often.

[heliona.livejournal.com]

But the thing is, there's nothing like going into a proper bookstore and seeing all the books on the shelves that hide all that potential. And it's not the same as a library (although they're almost as good), because you can take home a book and keep it! Forever!

I just have a great love of bookstores, and if I had more money, I would spend so much in them. Although I do enjoy getting the package from Amazon containing my books, there's the satisfaction of finding the book you want in a bookstore and being able to walk away with it.

Also, I own some really good books that I would otherwise have bought if it weren't for bookstores. The advantage bookstores have over Amazon and the like is that you can pick up the book, read the back, flick through it, and decide whether it's what you want before you buy it. Also, something interesting might catch your eye which doesn't happen online.

When I buy online, I only buy books that I already know about, so I'm not really expanding on my reading world. I wouldn't have known about Temeraire if it weren't for seeing it on the shelf, and quite a few of the other books that I bought last time I was in the bookshop.

So, in conclusion, bookstores are the places for the books that you want but don't know about yet!