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Last call
Ran errands this morning then stopped by Waldenbooks at the mall, where I kidnapped the manager for lunch. (The staff later mocked me when I returned her, pointing out that a real kidnapper would have at least demanded a ransom.)
The store is literally a shell of its former self. Some fixtures have already been sold off and removed, and the empty back half of the store echoes. In the front, the remaining stock takes up only a fraction of the shelf space.
Tomorrow is the last day the store will be open. Over the next few days the staff will box up whatever scraps are left, and supervise the removal of the fixtures. And then that will be it.
I'll miss the store and getting to see my friends there. I'll miss their keen knowledge of books which made it a joy to shop there, even as their selection dwindled.
I find it hard to imagine a mall without a bookstore. Cicero said "A room without books is like a body without a soul." Surely the same holds true for a shopping center. When I moved here the mall had not one but two bookstores, and there were a host of thriving bookstores--both chains and independent--in the surrounding towns. Now, for new books, there are very few options. There's the Barnes & Noble in Vestal. For those with a literary bent, there's RiverRead in Binghamton. Fat Cat Books in Johnson City is still hanging on, though the mix of new books versus comics and gaming continues to inexorably tilt towards the non-book stock. And, of course, Wal-Mart, Target and the like will continue to carry the latest bestsellers, but they can't take the place of a bookstore.
Even in its heyday, Waldenbooks was a good store, rather than a great one. But it was what we had, and I don't see anything coming forward to take its place. Ultimately the mall, and our community, are poorer for its loss.
The store is literally a shell of its former self. Some fixtures have already been sold off and removed, and the empty back half of the store echoes. In the front, the remaining stock takes up only a fraction of the shelf space.
Tomorrow is the last day the store will be open. Over the next few days the staff will box up whatever scraps are left, and supervise the removal of the fixtures. And then that will be it.
I'll miss the store and getting to see my friends there. I'll miss their keen knowledge of books which made it a joy to shop there, even as their selection dwindled.
I find it hard to imagine a mall without a bookstore. Cicero said "A room without books is like a body without a soul." Surely the same holds true for a shopping center. When I moved here the mall had not one but two bookstores, and there were a host of thriving bookstores--both chains and independent--in the surrounding towns. Now, for new books, there are very few options. There's the Barnes & Noble in Vestal. For those with a literary bent, there's RiverRead in Binghamton. Fat Cat Books in Johnson City is still hanging on, though the mix of new books versus comics and gaming continues to inexorably tilt towards the non-book stock. And, of course, Wal-Mart, Target and the like will continue to carry the latest bestsellers, but they can't take the place of a bookstore.
Even in its heyday, Waldenbooks was a good store, rather than a great one. But it was what we had, and I don't see anything coming forward to take its place. Ultimately the mall, and our community, are poorer for its loss.
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Sigh. I feel like Andy Rooney--grumping about the changes to the world, but having no plan other than to say "It shouldn't be like this."
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Yup. Pretty much that.
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