Book Retailers Dying?

James Robertson: “A decade ago, my entire family looked forward to a trip to Borders or B&N. We’d easily drop a ton of money on books, and spend a happy hour or two browsing the aisles. We just don’t do that anymore. Why? Well, the Amazon store is the primary reason.”

Kim and I used to do this all the time. We’d troop down to our local Borders, walk around, collect a bunch of books, and make a large purchase. We haven’t done it in an eon, and I love book stores. I just love walking around them, looking at what’s new, sippin on a coffee. It’s an event, like going to the movies. Since I picked up a Kindle for Kim last year I can count on one hand the times we’ve been to a physical book store.

The other strange thing, in the same vein, is we’ve stopped visiting Blockbuster Video. I used to go by there at lunch on Tuesday’s to see the new releases. It’s another place I loved to stroll. I haven’t done that for a very long time, probably more than a year. Now it’s all about Netflix.

Things they are a changin’.