I know this isn't easy to take, and it's hard for me to write, but you've got to stop emailing me.
Please.
It's getting to be everyday now and honestly it's just too little too late. We had a good thing, we really did. I used to come out and hang in your coffee shop, drink your coffee (which I never really liked anyway) and read a pile of books and magazines without paying for them and then I'd dutifully put them back, or on my bad days I'd leave them in a neat pile in the Cafe and leave so I could get home and order those books I liked on Amazon. Hey 30% off your prices is nothing to sneeze at.
You had a good selection of movies at one time, then you cut that to the bone. You had one of the better sections of Graphic Novels going, but then you moved it into the "teen" section which meant I'd get strange looks if I browsed over there, like I should be wearing a dirty raincoat and offering candy to the kids going by.
Sure, sometimes I really hated your music. The Best of Carly Simon would usually drive me out of the store faster than your stale muffins in the Cafe, and on more than one occasion I stood in a line that would make a Moscow immigrant long for the fast pace of a bread line.
I think the day it ended was when I bought my first Nook. Yes, you heard me right, my FIRST Nook. Barnes and Noble's reader really appealed to me, it was so shiny and new and I could carry a couple thousand books with me wherever I went and literally hundreds of classics (the majority of my print collection of books) were available for free. Then B&N introduced the Color Nook and that meant I could put comic books on it and I was theirs.
Yeah, B&N was a bit fatter and less attractive than you, the clerks were certainly stuffier-- but I tried the coffee and it was pretty good and I got used to the bad music-- which also seemed to be Carly Simon. Then they offered me a FREE membership card which saved me 10% off everything and FREE shipping if I ordered online.
The final blow was when you closed the Shrewsbury store. That's the one I went to-- it featured an AMAZING view even though when you built the store you decided to brick up the wall that faced that view. Corporate rules you said, but I could see it from the parking lot.
I'm not going to drive to Marlboro to visit you. I did that last year on the enticement of a giant tent sale only to get there and find there was one box with Martha Stewart titles in it and another with Rachel Ray. Needless to say I wasn't impressed.
As sad as it is, Borders, it's time to say goodbye. I understand you're fighting for survival but to me, you've been gone a long time already.
Sorry.
