Works for me. I spend an inordinate amount of time at the local Barnes & Noble and would be very sad if they followed the path of Borders and went belly-up. The cafe there is pretty much my "third place", the one place you will likely find me if I'm not at home or at my office. And I don't just sit in the cafe and leech free wifi, I buy a lot of physical books, magazines, etc. there (as well as cafe items). So yeah, definitely do not ever want to see B&N fold.
Same here. I was pretty upset when the Borders in my city closed; a few years later, the closest B&N to me also shut down. 100% agree with the article writer that bookstores provide a sense of identity. I wonder if we're in the middle of a shift in how the culture chooses to do relationships - maybe the pandemic showed people that, on its own, the internet just isn't able to provide the social framework that people want? I don't know. It's probably too early to tell if all this stuff is a passing fancy, or the beginnings of a new mode of relating.
Obviously the pandemic made this a bit harder But book stores and other offline spaces are key for socialization.
I think more and more people are getting disenchanted with what social media does, it's just not a replacement for going to a concert or something and actually seeing real people.
I'm actually pretty optimistic, I think within 10 years or so social media is going to play itself out and people are going to start interacting with each other again. I had to stop using social media, including online dating, because it was very mentally damaging for me.
As for books, it's great to own something tangible that can't be remotely deleted or altered in the future. My e reader, back when it worked was very cool, but there was a sense that you're just renting these books.
With a physical book, even if someone finds it offensive in the future, it's not possible for it to be remotely destroyed with a few clicks of a mouse. And if you don't believe me, ebooks are revised and remotely updated all the time. Questionable content, can be silently removed.
