Borders and Noble

[Bruce Appelbaum]

     I second the motion.  Being on the road a lot to some of the smallest 
     and probably wierdest places in America (one small Illinois town had a 
     store called "Tattoos n Things" and no bookstore, but therein lies 
     another tale -- and no, I didn't stick around to find out what the 
     "Things" were; then there was the "bookstore" in the Wisconsin Dells 
     that had the largest collection of pornographic magazines in several 
     counties along with the usual collection of bestsellers and trashy 
     romances), I try to locate the nearest B&N or Borders.  The main 
     reasons are 
     
     (a) access to the New York Times -- even if it is the national edition 
     (can't stand USA Today) -- I must have my daily Times fix 
     
     (b) access to a good cuppa joe, one that doesn't start off weak and 
     gets stronger by sitting on a hot burner all day (expensive, though); 
     these places are also usually the only places where a bagel can be had 
     in the land of the goyim;  and 
     
     (c) access to a reasonable supply of current magazines and books, 
     although I generally start the trip well stocked in the event that the 
     bookstore is not within easy driving distance or I can't get away.
     
     I have also found some _very_ good indies along the way (West Chester 
     Book Company in PA comes to mind immediately).  But they are few and 
     far between.


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Borders and Noble
Author:  Joe Varo <vjvaro at erie.net> at Internet
Date:    8/12/97 3:37 PM


I know that people just love to trash-mouth the big, chain-booksellers, 
but I'll tell ya' -- here in Erie, PA, before we got a B&N a few years 
ago, all we had in the way of bookstores were one local outfit which sold 
both new & used books, the only new ones being bestsellers and a not very 
good used selection.  We also had (still have) a Waldens, had a B. Daltons 
(which closed up a long time ago) and just before B&N opened we got a 
Little Professor bookstore.
     
Just before we got our B&N I had the opportunity to visit the Borders in 
Pittsburgh and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!  Books upon books 
upon books...philosophy, foreign language, you name it, they had it.
     
The local B&N is almost as good as the Pgh Borders, but not quite.
     
So I don't care what y'all say...when you live in a town with shitty 
bookstores, B&N is an absolute godsend.
     
Joe