Why I Love Real Bookstores

I said goodbye to my Borders this weekend. I'll admit I almost cried when I got home. I've shopped at Borders for as long as I can remember. I just can't believe this was the last time I'll walk through those doors. We had to wait awhile for our ride to come back from CVS where he'd gone while we were shopping so while my mom waited for him outside I actually went back in the store and just walked around the YA section for awhile.

Goodbye, Borders.

Today, I want to talk about why I love brick and mortar bookstores so much.

First of all, there's the smell. That beautiful, crisp smell of books. If they could bottle that smell, I would spray it around my room like crazy. I love to just walk into a bookstore and take a deep breath.

(Stop looking at me like I'm crazy.)

Another thing I love to do in bookstores is walk around the shelves and run my fingers along the spines. I love the feeling of the smooth book spines under my fingers as I take in the different titles.

There are actual people there who are willing to help you find a book and would be glad to give recommendations, if you need them. I also love watching the people buying books and looking to see what they have.

The immediate gratitude. If I buy a book in a real bookstore, I don't have to wait several days/weeks for it to arrive. It's there in my hands right away. I can go straight home and open it up right away if I want to. I don't even have to wait that long if I don't want to.

And finally, that feeling of finding a book that wasn't on your list but you just had to have it. That happens to me a lot. Oftentimes I go into a bookstore with a complete list of books to look for in my phone and when I walk out, half the books in my arms aren't on that list.

What do you love about real (brick and mortar) bookstores?

Comments

Brittany said…
I LOVE libraries and bookstores, but I probably love bookstores more. We don't have a Borders near where I live and I've only been in one once (in Chicago) and it was lovely (and huge).

There's an indie bookstore that's within biking distance from where I live so I usually go there. It's small, but it has a pretty big YA section that I love to look at. Whenever I go there, I see so many books at once that I really want, but I usually only get one or two.

We have a Barnes and Noble about half an hour away but I only go there if the other bookstore doesn't have a book I want. The B&N's YA section isn't nearly as good- mostly YA paranormal romance.

My family thinks that I'm weird because I buy books that I've already read so that I can reread them over and over again. Do you do this too? It's just that if I really love a book, I want to read it more than once, so I like to buy it.

I don't buy books I haven't read quite as much (unless they're the next in a series) because I don't have a ton of money floating around and I don't want to end up buying a book I'll never read. (But if I have a gift card or something, I usually buy books I haven't read.)

Great post, by the way!
August 1, 2011 at 12:49 PM
Rachael said…
Our closest indie bookstore is a twenty minute drive away, I think. I know it's there but I've never been inside. We don't have many indies around here because there are so many Borders, and Barnes and Nobles.

A half hour away there's a city that had three Borders and has two Barnes and Nobles. I've been in both B&Ns and neither of them has a very great YA section.

Yes! I definitely buy books I've already read so I can read them again, but not very often. I did that recently with HUNGER GAMES (which, for some reason, was the only book in the trilogy that I didn't own) and THE BOOK THIEF. I'm also in the process of collecting all of Tamora Pierce's books so I'll stop hogging the library's copies.

I only go to the bookstore about once every three months, but most of the books I buy I haven't read. Sometimes they're the next book in the series but most of the time they're not. I'm very good at picking out books that I'll love. Out of all the books on my shelves, there's only a few that I don't like well enough to read again that I myself bought.
August 1, 2011 at 1:03 PM
Brittany said…
Ooh, I love The Book Thief! I'm planning on buying it but my library is having a giveaway of a signed copy of it, so if I don't win that I'll buy it right away. :)

I usually pick out good books even if I haven't read them before. I can't remember how long ago but I bought A Wrinkle In Time at my indie bookstore and I love it. I can only think of one book that I've bought that I didn't like.

So usually I can pick pretty well, but I like to buy series books too. I only own the first Percy Jackson book but I'm planning on buying the rest.

And I'm really sorry about your Borders (I forgot to say so in my last comment). I'd be devastated if they got rid of my local indie bookstore.
August 1, 2011 at 4:28 PM
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