Say No More, Mon Amour

Borders, Inc. has announced its demise. Complete liquidation. As a former employee of the chain, with many friends still employed by the company, the news was devestating. While I understand why physical book stores are on the verge of extinction, as a writing student and book-lover, it is terrifying.

Being a Borders bookseller wasn't just a "job." It was a community, a family, a passion. People bound together over their love of the arts. And the employees and artists at Borders believed in their work.

I changed positions & stores from supervisor to bookseller to barista back to supervisor again for almost four years. The company changed its internal structure frequently and sometimes drastically, but when times got tough, the employees of Borders held hands with change and skipped through the manga section...literally.

And it might be the sickening proclivity I have towards nostalgia, but I will always look back on my time at Borders and think: Man, I miss working there.

That job was the closest I ever got to being IN the movie Empire Records (best first job movie ever). And for fulfilling that fantasy, Borders, I bid you a sweet sweet adieu set to a soundtrack of the Gin Blossoms.

You will be missed.

XOXO,
Leni "Did You Find Everything Okay?" Bookseller