When I was younger, I spent an uncalculatable number of hours in Waldenbooks while waiting for my mom to finish shopping in the mall. Because I hadn't yet become a library rat (I was only in elementary school), I read most of the new releases to my favorite series (Magic Treehouse, for instance), in Waldenbooks, and it was always a treat to go there. We never bought any books, as I wasn't really a go back and read over and over kind of girl, and so I always looked forward to going to the mall, if only because I could go to the bookstore.
As I grew older and I began spending more time in the library, on homework and such, I visited bookstores less, mostly because there were so many books I could read in the library (it took me about 3 years to exhaust myself in the public library during middle and high school, and even then, it was because I had more work to do than I wanted). I also became increasingly paranoid that they would find me reading in the bookstore and kick me out (bending pages! crinkling corners! you know that's right. what.). Of course, all my SAT needs were met in the bookstore, since the library was woefully inadequate in that department, and so, Borders became my go-to bookstore. There was one in Westwood, where mom worked and I could easily spend a day reading, studying, and sneaking a coffee.
Slowly by slowly, however, the Borders around us have begun to go out of business and close, which makes me extremely sad. Even more sadly, I got an email about a week ago saying that Borders was closing for good. And this, compounded with the fact that I pretty much just found out that Borders owned Waldenbooks, cuts pretty deep in my heart because that's where I spent so much of my childhood. I was a nerd first. I loved tetherball and racing, and I played hard, but I loved a good book more than anything. It just makes me a little sad. More than a little.
RIP Borders. May your fate not be that of bookstores everywhere. The end of an era shouldn't come so soon.
