Why bookstores don't work in downtown Ann Arbor any more

Short answer: The rents. The rents are high and the margins are too small. So say the current and former  Ann Arbor booksellers who were interviewed by Domenica Trevor for her Ann Arbor Chronicle piece about the economics of the bookstore business in Ann Arbor. Interesting conundrum. But I am sure that somehow or another the market will sort that issue out. It's the larger cultural change that worries me.

The sad reality is that books are becoming an expensive hobby like fine wines, exotic foods, horse racing, classic cars or Cuban cigars. For the class of people with lots of disposable income and intellectual refinement and who also have an interest in browsing around looking for books to read. Like the kind of people who browse estate sales and antique shops looking for just the right armoire for their guest bedroom instead of buying one from an Ikea warehouse outlet. The rest of us can just buy what we want off Amazon for our  Kindles or at the ground floor display at Barnes & Noble if we don't have a Kindle. Because for most of us time is money and money is dear. That's reality and it is indeed sad.

John U. Bacon on what made Border's Books special

Ann Arbor-based sportswriter and WUOM radio commentator John U. Bacon reminisces about the old days of when Border's Books was a fresh start up in piece at the Ann Arbor Chronicle. He went to apply for a job at the original Border's store at State & Liberty. "When I applied for a job there in college," says Bacon, "they didn’t just hand me an application, but a test on literature – which I failed." Heh. The same thing happened to me too. I guess that's what made Border's different and special back in the day. You had to know your literature, best sellers and authors. Good times.

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