BORDERS has Closed - I'm in Mourning

Perth, Western Australia is a very small capital city.  So small in fact you can count how many bookstores there are in the CBD with one hand.  And as of 1 July you can subtract one finger as Borders, my beloved Borders, has closed.

I’m truly in mourning over this.  I love bookstores.  I especially love a bookstore that is browser friendly, as Borders always was.  As well as being open and airy, there were lovely leather chairs in which to relax and leaf through your book before purchasing while having a hot cup of coffee from the in store Gloria Jeans.  I used to love going into the city on a Sunday (because in this part of Australia many, many stores are not allowed to open on a Sunday so Borders was especially appealing….), checking out the new books, browsing my favourite sections and purchasing the American magazines like Eating Light and Southern Living that isn’t available in any other newsagent or store in Australia.  And now it’s all gone.  It’s so depressing.

I realize not only the economy but also the digital revolution has changed the way we consume written media.  I myself have only just discovered the beauty of eBooks – but there is no taking away the wonderful act of holding a book in your hands, propping it on your bent knees while relaxing in the sun, totting it around in your handbooks ready at a moment’s notice for a quick read or just placing it on your bookshelf to enjoy as an aesthetically appealing element to your décor once read and on the ready to read again at a later date.  Though I love my iPad, I don’t look at my eBooks in the same way as a book and never will.  Some written media can only be truly enjoyed in book form.

And so it’s with a heavy heart that I bid my beloved Borders adieu.  I just don’t know what I’m going to do now on a Sunday.  I guess I’ll have more time to devote to quilting.