Every town has one. A big, shiny, well-kept Barnes & Noble Booksellers store, complete with a small Starbucks Cafe inside. In theory, this should be my regular hangout. In reality, I'm suspicious and skeptical of Barnes & Noble, and their whole scheme.
I don't know why I am so uneasy about the megabookstore. Maybe it's because I've watched You've Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks too much. Maybe because I don't like their price listings. Maybe I just prefer to buy books on Amazon or check them out from the library. For whatever reason, although I do enjoy going there sometimes, I hardly like to buy from that store.
Not that I'm discriminating against just them. When Borders was in business (rest in peace), I didn't like to go there either. It was just another Barnes & Noble with subpar coffee and a smaller selection of equally overpriced books. Also they didn't use the double stacked bookshelves with ladders that I liked so much at a particular bookstore in downtown Fort Worth. Borders will just never compare.
I think a megabookstore's concept is what really makes me mad. Reading is extremely important in so many different ways, yet Barnes & Noble chooses to turn finding a book into sort of a retail shopping experience. That can be a good or bad thing. It's a good thing when a person who isn't necessarily the biggest fan of reading has fun picking out a book from Barnes & Noble to buy. Although they probably aren't buy the book for the right reason, at least it gets them out there and looking. It's a bad thing because I don't think books should be as expensive as they are at Barnes & Noble. I know that they just follow the book publisher's listing price, but it's unnecessary to spend 25 dollars on a recently released book at a big book store when you could buy the same book half price at Walmart or Target. That whole process makes me wonder about how much the publisher and the author actually wants to sell the book for, and what places like Wal-Mart and Target have to do in order to lower those prices, especially when the book has just been released. But that could be a whole other blog.
It makes me wonder if having a large retailer is necessary. I normally always say no, but it does make buying books easy and popular when large book retailers are in indoor and outdoor shopping malls. When Christmas comes around, the bookstores are always usually busy with customers and people looking to buy books for friends and family, and that promotes reading, which I'm always a fan of. I just believe that buying a book can be a personal experience that requires time and knowledge, and Barnes & Noble doesn't give me that special feeling that I just found a great book when I check out.
What do you think? Do you like big bookstores or are you into smaller retailers like me??
Like you, I enjoy wandering around, but I rarely buy there. I do enjoy that they are so well placed, and no one stops you from thumbing through the pages a bit.
ReplyDeleteI think that is the one thing lost if I go to Amazon. Looking at the first ten pages in PDF format doesn't help me make a decision to purchase like picking it up and flipping through it does. Also, the huge selection means I may just happen to see something I would not have searched for online.
I feel like Amazon is kind of a huge megastore. I do like the prices but I tend to judge books by their covers on Amazon. Actually I end up going to Barnes & Noble to look at the books and then buy them on Amazon...or at small bookstores. Another turn off from Barnes and Noble is the change to a Nook seller than a book seller. The one in OKC/Edmond is beginning to look more like an Apple or toy store. I mean, if I want to buy a toy I'd go somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteI think that big bookstores are great! Big bookstores, tiny bookstores, and anywhere that sells books are valuable! The more bookstores there are out there the more authors that will be able to publish their books. This helps those talented authors that bring us all so much joy stay afloat with their writing careers. I don't mind paying more for good books, and I think that we should be willing to support those that we expect to entertain us. Writing is a career, not a leisure time activity and profit is a necessity.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree that profit is necessary, but when stores like Walmart and Target are selling the exact same books at half the price, doesn't that raise some concern? I don't know, I think that books on certain subjects should cost more if they are in a specialized field, but young adult fiction should cost the same at every store.
ReplyDeleteI like book stores period. But I do agree mega bookstores take away from the overall experience. If I had it my way I would always shop at small local retailers. Have you ever been to Full Circle in OKC? It's this awesome book store that reminds me of beauty and the beast because it has all the sliding ladder, it's great! It has a huge selection of books and comparable prices to the big chains. Honestly though, I can't hate on big chains too much because I would rather have chain book stores than no bookstores at all.
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