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I’m another Bakersfield-born bookseller. I haven’t been back in many years, but I remember California Avenue, and your Barnes & Noble was my bookstore! I’m racking my brain, was the Red Lion on California or Truxton or Stockdale?! I remember going, on hot nights, late enough that the heat had just relented enough to think, going and sitting in the aisles of your store. I remember the windows lit up in from the dark parking lot. I associate that lit up image with safety and peace and freedom. It might be my earliest booky memory. A Barnes & Noble did that, created in me, a passion for books that continues.
I now work at an independent, locally-owned bookshop in Colorado. I’ve been here for five years. As an adult and an “industry professional,” I understand better the implications and complexity of this local vs. corporate conversation. I probably wouldn’t shop at a Barnes & Noble now, if I had access to one. But friends...
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