Nostalgic for Borders

Do you know what I mean?

Borders the Bookstore. It has been seven or eight years since it closed.

It was my favorite place ever. Our Borders was housed in Stonecrest and it was a hopping place. People were always there so when we heard it was closing, it just didn't make sense. I was in disbelief. Not my favorite bookstore. Not the only bookstore in the world. (At the time, I was very oblivious to other bookstores and while I knew of B&N, I'd never been there.) It was devastating.

I have a lot of fond memories about Borders.

First off, the children's section. I spent most of my time there, but it was so much fun. Tucked away in the back, there were shelves of colorful stories and I would find a good place to sit and read for a while. I want to say there were paintings and fun chairs too, but my memory has a few holes in it. I can remember the blurry image of it, but I can't remember the specifics.

Either way, my next favorite section was the music section. Back then, they were all CDs and you could listen to a CD by scanning its barcode. There were screens with connecting headphones and you could listen to any CD you wanted to.

Borders had so many fun events too! I remember when the last Harry Potter book was coming out and we went to the midnight release party. Everyone was dressed up like witches and wizards. There was a cauldron full of dry ice and everyone was so happy. We even got a poster showing the cover image from The Deathly Hallows.

It was a frequent occurrence for my family to go to Borders. We went so much. I think it helped develop my love of reading. I could devour two or three children's books in the hour we spent there. The Magic Treehouse was a favorite and we had a large collection. I want to say that over half the shelf (at our house) was filled with those books.

Borders may have closed but my love of reading was never diminished. Although, it pained me to go to B&N at first, I came to love the store all the same. I actually knew it so well at one point that I helped several people find what they were looking for.

"Oh you're looking for the new magic school book, well usually it would be in the children's section, but I happen to know they have copies in the front."

"You're a fan of Percy Jackson too! Well, then right this way. They shelve those on the back in the children's section."

I probably could have worked at B&N if I still lived in Charlotte. Alas, now I'm familiarizing myself with D.H. Hill and I'm figuring out the stacks. Soon I'll be an unofficial librarian there too.

Do you have a favorite bookstore or fond memories of book shopping?