Death of a Bookstore

       Goodbye Borders. I will miss the long shelves of information, stories, and knowledge that was just within the reach of my fingertips. I will miss the smell of paper and ink mingling together in familiar warmth. I will miss the anticipation that tickled my insides as I held the new treasured book to my chest waiting to take it home and eagerly jump into the pages of another world.
        How many books, (dozens) and how many authors did I discover because snowy days, icy and forbidding to play outside, were the perfect kind of days to spend lazy afternoons exploring the shelves of the bookstore? Buying books online is doable but I can't flip through the pages, trying to decide if I want to purchase it.
        I know we blast full speed into the future, with electronic books and quick downloads right into our reading devices. And in some way this may be easier, it certainty would be kinder on the back when moving. Physical books weigh so much and my library is huge. The prices are lower and it looks like authors are branching out and daring to do things on their own, each book selling for less but in fact making more profit per book for the writer since they're not having to share with their agent and publisher.
        But children's books, picture books have to be physical. They have to be something you can curl up with as your child sits on your lap and listens to the story. Bonding. Sharing. Growing. And how am I supposed to pick one out that can live up to the potential of being read over and over again without me going crazy??? If I'm going to read a book a million, trillion times I want to enjoy it too. How am I supposed to pick that out through a computer screen??
        See, to understand my sorrow you have to realize that Borders was the last bookstore in my town. Over the last ten years the downward spiral of the economy took out the local Mom and Pop bookstores, then it killed off the two bookstores in the mall and now, it has finished off the only bookstore we had left. And although I still question big corporations, such as Borders, because of the threat they pose to small businesses, I still enjoyed the experience of buying my books in their bookstore because of their selection, their welcoming atmosphere, and the ability to almost always find something I wanted to read.
       Every Christmas my siblings, grandparents, and parents would go in on a huge gift card to Borders for my children's Christmas present. They loved it because they could purchase a new book every month for almost a year. What lucky kids! And every trip to the bookstore furthered their love for stories and books. It fed their thirst and hunger for learning. Textbooks are okay but if you want your children to really learn about the world encourage their reading of classics, and biographies and anything that interest them.
      With a heavy heart I read the Wall Street Journal online and realized that the death of the bookstore will effect all of us. They employed around 10,700 people who are going to be losing their jobs. They owe money to publishers, some who will probably not survive because of this. The publishers owe authors who aren't going to be paid. The publishing world is already in mass chaos as the world economy is shaken and stirred by events I have no control over. Now, they have to survive the massive death of around 400 bookstores. That's 400 less places to showcase great books, 400 less places for a fledgling author to possibly gain notice.
       400 less places for a child to discover a bigger world.
       Times are always changing but obviously the lost of so much for so many people will not be a good thing. But hopefully, even as access is restricted to books for some people, we never forget the magic of a good story.
       The thrill of reading, 'Once upon a Time..."
       The happy sigh as one finishes a great story...
       Today though,  it's too bad Border's story ends as a tragedy...