One of my great pleasures in life is to wander the stacks of a good book store. The experience is even better in second hand book stores, where the possibility of a bargain purchase lurks in the back of ones mind. For example, on a recent visit to Washington DC I found myself wandering around Georgetown and stumbled across Bridge Street Books.
Georgetown books
It’s a lovely store with a fine selection of new and a few second hand books on the street out the front. For $7 I picked up a hardcopy of Jerome Groopman’s How Doctors Think. Not as cheap as those second hand books listed on Amazon, but I thought a pretty good buy. Inspired by my success, I asked the proprietor for advice on where to next on a Georgetown book store tour. The advice was to head round the corner to Bartleby’s Books. Less luck here, but my advice included a suggestion I get there within 2 weeks as Bartleby’s is closing down.
Georgetown bookstore
The news of Bartleby’s closing came, coincidently, hot on the heels of news that McGill’s Business & Technical Book Store in Brisbane is closing down at the end of June. The email says:
Unfortunately the last few years have been particularly difficult for the business, and despite our best endeavors to improve sales, the business has now reached the point where it is no longer viable to keep the store open. Naturally with the close of the store imminent we have had close off the rewards program – any points you have with the store will be honored on your next purchase but you will no longer accrue points with your purchases. Please note that any rewards points outstanding will not be redeemable after our store has closed. We would like to thank you for your loyalty and support over the years.
Obviously bricks & mortar book stores are (mostly) unable to compete with internet businesses. It’s not a new trend, it’s just jumped into the front of my mind in the last day or two. I fear one of the great pleasures in life, that of browsing bricks & mortar book stores, will be more and more difficult to enjoy in the very near future. Here’s hoping some survive. We’ll be worse off without them.
