R.I. P.

No, I'm not talking about Michael Jackson (although that was one hell of a shocker too and very sad news). I went to visit one of my favorite used books stores this afternoon, Nearly New, only to see that it's now closed.




There is something so sad in a deserted bookstore. A place that used to be dusty and crammed full, filled with purpose, is now a drab-looking little local with dirty blind windows. That makes it the sixth used books store to close its doors in my area in the last two years: Mini-Prix, Westcott on St-Laurent, the Colisée du Livre on Ste-Catherine, the small one in front of Astro, the one on Stanley and now this­ one. It is getting alarming, especially since that was one of the few to have a decent section of English romances. Now I only have 3 left (Astro, 440 and unnamed on Ste-cath's). What in the hell is happening? You'd think that in a period of recesion UBS would be popular, because people would buy more used books than new ones. But I guess it's not everyone who considers books a basic need and a lot of people must have stopped buying books altogether. :( *sigh*

It worries me and pisses me off, but there isn't much I can do. It's not like I wasn't doing more than my part to keep them open...