Is the Death of Borders Really Good for Independent Bookstores? - Esther Yi

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/09/is-the-death-of-borders-really-good-for-independent-bookstores/245095/

While it's questionable that Borders' end will yield dramatic benefits for independent shops, Abel views it as a symbolic affirmation of good bookstore values. He says that the depersonalized atmosphere of superstores like Borders and Barnes & Noble helped to foster an attitude of disrespect: if customers feel no intimate connection with a store, they are more likely to, say, copy lines out of a travel guide or treat books with a flippant disregard for the person who may chance upon the items next. "We can do without those behaviors. We could get back to a bookstore where people don't answer their phones, back to a bookstore where people value the books," Abel says, noting that even Costco, the monumental warehouse chain, sells books. "We were putting books in a space that shouldn't be selling books. It's not a pair of jeans at 40 percent off. It's a cultural artifact. It's knowledge."

Let's remember that Borders' failure to adapt to e-commerce killed them, not Amazon. There are still bookstores out there that thrive because their customers like to be in a bookstore, not in a coffee shop-mall hybrid. Someone has to serve them.