We can talk about the end of an era on the Upper West Side and weep for the store itself, but this story is bigger than Eeyore's.
Humongous book store chains like Barnes & Noble are taking books and turning them into McDonald's hamburgers. I admit that I'll stumble into a B & N now and then, browse the massive bins of books labeled $5 and Under, but it's not a warm and fuzzy place to shop. It doesn't whisper "Pick up this book, settle in, get comfy," so much as it alerts me that "THE NEXT PERSON IN LINE CAN STEP FORWARD."
This is where our culture is headed, into the bargain bin.
We want it right now, we want a lot of it, and we want it as cheap as possible. When do we step off the conveyor belt and take a look at the machine we've helped create?
This isn't just about books. It's our coffee, our homes (people building houses in their backyards to make a quick buck), our modes of transportation. It's a system built around convenience and speed, without an eye on the future.
I'm rambling now, but I'm disturbed by the closing of this little book shop. You may not buy children's books (or care about them at all), but whether you realize it or not, this affects you.
I went through a Starbucks drive-thru a couple of weeks ago and now I feel guilty for contributing to a system that rewards homogenous experience.
Am I saying "Don't go to Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, or Best Buy?" Nope, not at all.
I'm saying demand more from them when you're there. Make these conveyor-belt corporations give you the experience the smaller, independent businesses were delivering. Make them work for your money.
NEXT IN LINE, PLEASE!
3 comments:
Very good, David. As someone who dabbles in children's fiction, what breaks my hear the most is the death of the independent, homegrown children's book store. There was a bookstore in Spokane, back when I was teaching, called Aunty's. Don't know if it's still there but, man, I could have spent whole afternoons, there. The decor and atmosphere invited you to kick your shoes off, grab and couple of books and curl up.
And coffee, well, Portland has a lot of independent coffee houses, right? Starbucks stores feel sterile to me now.
I want those independent stores to stick around. But I think they are not long for this world.
I hope you're wrong, Judy, but you might be right.
Wait, I know: B & N can section off their stores and create little indy-looking bookshops, tailored to each section. It will give the appearance of small, cozy, and people-oriented, but still be under one, huge B & N roof.
You know, I scare myself when I think like that.
You are so right. And this 'wanting it now, wanting it cheap, with little concern for the future' is what has put America in the pinch it finds itself in today and has put the little guy out of business. For 3 years now I have been unable to afford my home. Not because I signed for some loan I could not afford, but because when I signed the loan papers 10 years ago the products I designed were still designed on our shores. Now they are designed and sculpted and manufactured in India and China. Foolish of me to think you could never outsource talent like you can outsource technology. I hope it comes back around. But we live in a time when even the food on our dinner tables is outsourced.
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