Today’s question: Favorite bookstores. What’s your favorite bookstore? Is it an online store or a bricks-and-mortar store? How often do you go book shopping? Is your favorite bookstore (or bookstores) listed as a favorite in LT? Do you attend events at local bookstores? Do you use LT to find events?
My favorite bookstore is my local Waldenbooks. I do not buy books online (unless BookMooch, PaperBackSwap and the occasional ebay book purchase count). I prefer to touch them, smell them and look at them… are they a tome or a quick read, etc. I live in a small town and Waldens is the only new books bookstore here.
But even if it wasn’t, I love Jan, Sally and Obie so much I’d still shop there if I had ten bookstores to choose from. And I think that is also some of the reason I shop there. It’s wonderful to go into the store and see their smiling faces. They always ask what I’ve been reading and are quick to help me find whatever I need. They give great suggestions, and take mine as well… I’m still bugging them to read The Gargoyle.
I usually run in terror from the bookstore because I know I cannot resist! So I haven’t shopped as much lately. Last time I had to go in was to order Josette’s book since she can’t use the Borders gift card in Malaysia, and I walked out spending about $30… I went in to just orderpeople! I suppose electricity isn’t completely necessary… I could read my books by candle light… but I havegrown fond of it, you know. (TV runs on it and TV keeps kids quiet… puter runs on it, and puter keeps me in books!)
LibraryThing has nothing for my bookstore, so it’s fairly useless for finding events. It has Borders in Ann Arbor, but I’m not driving 3 1/2 hours to some book signing, no matter whose pen the scrawl comes from. I do occasionally attend the events at my store… but again, I can’t walk away for less than $20. The last even was the Breaking Dawn party. I went to the Mummy 3 instead. 😀
By the way, Borders is where I get my gift cards for my giveaways, and where I got the Boogers you can win along with a $10 gift card! Enter to win at Boogers and Book Bucks Giveaway!
EDIT: I’ve got a shirt for you, readerville:
Filed under: Tuesday Thingers | Tagged: Book bucks, book shopping, bookmooch, Books, Borders, Borders gift card, Breaking Dawn, ebay, free book money, giveaway, Jan, LibraryThing, Obie, paperbackswap, Sally, The Gargoyle, Tuesday Thingers, Waldenbooks |
In the Shadow of Mt. TBR 
I know what you mean about running in terror from the bookstore. Though it always catches up with me and MAKES me buy books 🙂
I actually had friends who, when we were in a mall, would walk between me and any bookstore that we might pass in an attempt to keep me out!
Most definitely brick and mortar – our Borders is still called Waldenbooks and I stop in whenever my wife needs to go to Target. I’ll say “I’m going to drop in for five minutes” and she will say “see you in an hour.”
I miss hanging out in a bookstore, our Hastings just doesn’t do it for me. There is nothing like checking out all the new books:)
The worst thing for me us that there is a Barnes and Noble within 5 blocks of my job. It’s really hard!
Oh, I am definitely a library person! I have quite a few ARCs right now, so I haven’t been to the library in a few weeks, though.
The staff at my local Half-Price Books is one of the reasons it’s my favorite, too – don’t you just love walking in and knowing you’re going to get great conversation, too? =)
Waldens is the store of my youth. Sadly, there are few of them out here in the Bay Area — pushed out by B&N and Books, Inc. I loved the scale of that store — they were never big, no cafe’s — very library-like in their set-up. I still remember finding Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret on the back wall of our Waldens when I was 12 … Thanks for reminding me of happy bookstore memories!
The staff can either make or break a book store, don’t you think? If they are all book lovers, recommend and then just leave you to browse, all is good. But if they are clueless about what I am looking for or if they are stalkers….see ya! Glad you love your bookstore.
I know all about the hazards of walking into the bookstore for “just one thing.” It’s like going grocery shopping when you’re hungry–just not a good idea.
Now imagine that you work in the bookstore and are taunted on a daily, nay, hourly basis by the sheer number of good books you’ve yet to read. Welcome to my world…I do well to buy only 1 or 2 books a week, but I am getting better thanks to an increasing number of ARCs. Thank goodness…
We, at one time, had a beautiful Waldenbooks. I really miss it.
I love that you know the names of the bookshop staff … it’s really makes bookhunting so much fun when the staff know you 🙂
The first bookstore I actually fell deeply in love with was a Waldenbooks, back home in San Antonio when I was a pre-teen. I discovered Virginia Woolf’s Orlando there, and Wuthering Heights, and Gertrude Stein (well, nothing’s perfect). I remember the very sweet sales staff kept trying to steer me to the young adult books, but they let me buy Lolita, just the same!
I love the t-shirt design! Has anyone else noticed that you can buy t-shirts for various CNN headlines on their website (that’s home page, so I see all kinds of odd items … Right now it’s “Bush hugs bikini-clad U. S. Olympians” … I kid you not, you can buy the t-shirt!
Lol I don’t think I would be able to fool myself into believing I could walk into a bookstore just to order something…. There’s just no way 🙂
I much prefer the touch and smell of books, too!
I am from Michigan originally and I miss Borders!
I like to buy books in person too. Much more fun and interactive than buying online 🙂