What caused the Extinction of the Bookstore?

As of January 16th the city of Laredo Texas, Population 600K, no longer has a bookstore. The last holdout was a B.Dalton that finally closed its doors. This little tidbit made me think about an experience I had recently, but for you, the reader, to understand, you need back story:


My second favorite job of all time was at a Waldenbooks. I LOVED going to work there. I got on shortly after returning from one of my summers at the U.S. Space Camp, (See link below) and quickly became a key-holder. I worked there with my future sister-in-law, my now wife's last boyfriend before me, (One of my best friends to this day!) and a few other characters that made it a fun place to work. I learned more about authors, manga, Harlequin Romances, history, and Playboy than I can ever use on any television game show. But most importantly working there taught me how to take care of a store. Keeping neat shelves, keeping the sections organized and ALPHABETIZED! (Yes, Books-A-Million in Owensboro, Kentucky I am giving you the "Wag of the Finger"!)

In the days of Internet, where even our phones have become media consumption devices, where does the printed word fit? We can read electronic books from them, peruse the web on them, get up to the minute news alerts, and what your favorite celebrity just ate for lunch, but the experience of the book is lost. It is something almost spiritual; you go to the store and a knowledgeable associate who actually reads books comes over and asks what you are looking for: genre, similar authors to what you last read,etc, and you leave the store carrying a bag with your latest treasure inside. The miles to your home seem to stretch on for an eternity as you lovingly steal glances at the bag you carefully laid in the passenger's seat. At extended stoplights you find yourself pulling the book out and re-reading the teaser on the inside dust cover, getting caught up with excitement until people behind you impatiently begin to blow their horn as the light has been green for 20 seconds or more. You stomp the gas pedal leaving smoke and rubber behind as the book drops back into its bag, determined to get home quickly.

The brakes and suspension of your car groans in protest as you whip into your driveway, hands feverishly fumbling for the house key even before it is out of the ignition to the car. A pot of coffee is set to brew as the assorted snacks for an extended escape are prepared and any "personal business" is taken care of before the first cup is poured. You settle into your most comfortable chair, set the coffee on the stand beside you, turn on the light, open the cover and delve into the world that the author has painstakingly rendered for you on the pages in your hand...

Alas this is not the case anymore...

"Bookstores" as they are so laughingly called now, are staffed by minimum wage dropouts by day and over-caffeinated teens at night. The day workers are there just to stock shelves, with no attention to detail, making finding the one copy whatever book it is you are looking for impossible to find unless you have a brief flash of clairvoyance that tells you that that specific copy of Balzac was placed in the automotive section. and the teens are there to clean up, and putting the books back in the correct sections not required as they will be placed on the shelf closest to the table they were found on. Which totally explains the logic behind the James Dobson book residing on the manga shelves... Then God forbid you ask an associate for help, the rolling of the eyes followed by the huff of impatience as you interrupt their shovelling books onto the shelves is akin to the reaction to asking a stranger for $20. Of course there are no guarantees that the book you are looking for can be found. So you go home and log onto the internet.

And you were wondering why Amazon is so popular...

Now, I wish I was exaggerating, but this is what it is like in Owensboro now that BAM is the only bookstore in town. If I can help it, I do order from Amazon instead of buying from Books-A-Million, just because every time I HAVE to go in there I think I am developing an ulcer. The social experience of the bookstore is gone. Then, on MacBreak Weekly a few weeks ago, Alex Lindsey made the comment that he often goes into bookstores and orders books on his iPhone that he sees just so he does not have to carry the books home, they are just delivered. It is this culture of instant gratification we have created that is causing the demise of the book culture.

We are not reading any less because of it, we spend HOURS upon HOURS reading on the internet, but it is a short clip here, a magazine article there, a tidbit about the latest Tiger Woods mistress to come out of the woodwork, so I would reason to bet that the number of words read by each individual has increased, but the coherency of the experience has all but gone extinct. Think about it, when was the last time you read a whole book? When was the last time you read something that wasn't retrieved by clicking a hyperlink?

Do yourself a favor, find a book, unplug. Read it and think about it. If you need a recommendation, the book of 1st John can be read in the time it takes to read an article in Car and Driver, and you can reset your how long has it been since I read a book counter tonight! Find a book club, visit your local library, TALK TO SOMEONE about books! Try to frequent your local mom-and-pop bookstore on the corner, buy a magazine a week at least. Just expand your horizon away from the florescent glow of your computer screen.


God Bless!

Jason


Space Camp
1st John