As a reasonably firm free-marketeer, I suppose I should not mourn the impending demise of Barnes and Noble (NYSE: BKS) or Borders (NYSE: BGP). This is what is supposed to happen in a functioning free market, right? Good companies rise, bad companies fall and go away, and throughout the process capital is supposed to move towards the best returns.
So, I am not denying that the markets are working as Barnes and Noble and Borders go away as physical stores, to be replaced (presumably) with Amazon's (Nasdaq: AMZN) online-only methodology. Perhaps a few Quixotic private bookshop owners stay around, those who either have not gotten the memo about the demise of the industry, or simply refuse to read it.
But I will tell you ... I love bookstores. I love going to them, I love sitting in them, I love reading in them, and I love buying in them. And yet, I have done my part to kill what I love - I am not the only person to thumb through a book at Borders, confirm its worth, and then go home, pop on Amazon (because it is a buck or two cheaper than ordering from Borders' website) and buy it there. Basically, bookstores have turned into places where we test-drive our reading material.
So, as I look at the latest news from Barnes and Noble (bad, of course), I cannot help but feel a little sad that this industry is going away. I do not miss portable cassette players, Atari 2600's, video rental stores, or other flotsam and jetsam of the 1980's, but I will miss bookstores.
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