Comments | aroundfremont: Barnes and Noble closing

notebookist in aroundfremont

Barnes and Noble closing

Nov 09, 2010 17:35

I went to the B&N store today and saw that they will be closing on December 31, 2010. They already have some stuff on sale at 40%--mostly just their bargain books, calenders, journals and their home & office supplies. Apparently the landlord wants to hike the rent and the store doesn't want to pay. They want to move somewhere else but they don't ( Read more... )

Comments 7

pinstripe_bindi November 10 2010, 18:49:20 UTC

Bookstores are the one exception I make to the general "independent is better than chain!" rule. Maybe in a big city independent bookstores kick ass; but I grew up with The Bookmark in the Hub, and I'm sorry if people have fond memories of it because it had a cat or whatever, but it kinda sucked. All they had was trashy romances and hastily published hagiographies about flash in the pan celebs like Vanilla Ice and whatever crap by John Grisham that everyone was reading that month. Okay, they could order anything; but when I go into a bookstore for a specific book I want it NOW, not 2 weeks from now.

/end rant

Okay, putting away the soapbox. I agree with the commenter who predicts that entire complex is gonna get pretty seedy if they don't find an equally big anchor for it. They probably will though, as it's at such a prime location.

crocodiletears November 13 2010, 03:31:23 UTC

Just came here to talk about fond memories of the bookmark before B&N ran them into the ground.

I was reading kids books at the time, and so I wasn't paying attention to John Grisham or trashy romance novels and can't speak to that, but that sounds like the move of a bookstore that's already struggling and trying to get stuff on the shelves that is wider read and more likely to sell so as to not go under.

While online shopping has made this whole debate a little dated in some ways, I disagree hardcore to bookstores being an exception to the "independent is better rule". I'd rather eat crappy chain food than have a few big companies in charge of what kind of books I have access to or am presented. Independent bookstores generally have a better selection of more well written books, books from independent press, and run things more like a repository of knowledge than a capitalist enterprise. They're the best.

Oh, and the cat had extra toes. <3

pinstripe_bindi November 13 2010, 14:22:45 UTC

LOL @ CORPORATIONS ARE CONTROLLING THE FLOW OF INFORMATION. B&N and Borders have about a thousand times the selection that The Bookmark had.

But like I said, I admit my argument is moot outside the cloistered confines of Fremont. When I worked in San Francisco I used to spend most of my lunch hour in Stacey's.

jdeguzman November 11 2010, 20:14:41 UTC

Oh, that's terrible. I remember walking in there for the first time, too. I started singing, "Heaven! I'm in heaven!" And for a long time, it was a ritual to get a chai at Starbucks and stroll through the aisles while I drank it. I have a Kindle now, but I buy the occasional print book, like those that have color plates, and I'd usually buy them there.

I wonder what is going to replace it? With the empty restaurant building and empty chain store, that complex is going to suffer.

anonymous November 13 2010, 18:23:05 UTC

I'd still love to see a Whole Foods in central Fremont!

Whole Foods anonymous November 13 2010, 21:54:35 UTC

Me too!

B&N anonymous November 13 2010, 23:58:55 UTC

I think that location needs...a #*%$& Dollar store!