Jan
16
I used to be a big fan of Harvard Coop. Any time I’d be in Boston, I’d end up spending quite a lot of it just sitting in the Coop reading. Each day I’d walk around, pick up a pile of maybe 8-10 books, find a comfortable seat, and gradually divide them into 3 piles - those that looked interesting on the shelf, but really aren’t; those that I’ll definitely buy; and those that I’m unsure about, or that I’m keen to read some of, but probably not to buy. And I’d usually end up buying 10-20 books on an average trip to Boston.
When I was in Boston again last summer, I noted with dismay that the comfortable seats on the middle floor had vanished. There were still the two in the basement, and a couch on the top floor, but the middle floor now just had the hard seats at tables, and those in the coffee shop area. Today I noted with even more dismay that the entire top floor is now also hard seats. The only comfortable seats remaining are the two in the basement. Which of course means that there’s virtually no chance of actually getting one. And as a result I spent much less time there than usual and only bought 2 books.
MIT Coop still has 4 comfortable seats by the window, so I can sit there and read OK. And the Borders downtown still has quite a few (although they’ve been rearranged in a very strange configuration). So these will now be getting more of my trade. (The Barnes and Noble downtown is terrible…)
I read somewhere once that Barnes and Noble were trying to position themselves as an alternative to the library, rather than other bookstores.
But I’m wondering if in general there’s a move away from the “our bookshop is really comfortable; come sit here all day and read our books” type of approach.