Posted on 02/16/2014 9:56:37 PM PST by expat1000
Have a look!
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
This bookstore is housed in an ornate theater building from the 1920's. Customers can sit in still-intact theater boxes to relax and browse their books.
"While the selection of books on offer is standard chain store fare, bibliophiles will find the staggeringly opulent display of books to be reason enough to pay El Ateneo Grand Splendid a visit," according to Atlas Obscura. 
Business Insider again.
Is City Lights in San Fran on this list?
Does BI ever cover..... business?
The majesty is gone and so is the sloped floor.
I met Mickey Mantle there once and Gene Kranz too.
No, but ...
16. Prairie Lights, Iowa City, Iowa.
... is
4. BookPeople, Austin, Texas.
In the 1990s, I read a magazine that took delight in prank calling the clueless yutes who worked at BookPeople to ask them when the Jack Kerouac signing was coming up or if they were going to have J. D. Salinger on his signing tour.
“Uh, yeah, I think it’s coming up, hold on, I’ll check the list...”
This gorgeous, 100-year-old bookstore is known for its stunning architecture and “stairway to heaven.”
But I don't READ Portuguese!
I’ve bought from Powell’s online using Bookfinder.com (price/condition search against a lot of booksellers). I have no reason to visit.
And architecture is “pleasing” but no reason to plan a trip to some far off land.
Little diversity in the politics of the celebrated writers too.
lol
Ah, the places I’d love to browse - like if I had an extra couple million burning a hole in my pocket, LOL.
They moved across the street to a location at the base of the Oakbrook tower. I love this building, and it provides many striking views from the various nearby locations. I always imagined myself as Charlton Heston, holed up in the penthouse. Here is the view I used to get approaching the store site on my many visits, although usually after dark, when the view was quite striking.
Then Borders expanded, and there were several locations closer to my home, but I still went up to Oakbrook on occasion to the "Big Borders", as I called it.
Then ... nothing! The end! Bookstores mean nothing to me now.
They're even famous for denying the feds a look-see at a customer's book buying habits.
I've been to Powell's, Boulder Books, and Shakespeare & Company. Just 15 more to go!
Cody’s. Berkeley. Site of the first muslim attack on US soil.
Bookstop was a better chain before Barnes & Noble took it over.
In the mid to late 80s, there were all sorts of books (that had been published as others had in the past) that just did not get the same shelf space consideration when primarily there were B.Dalton, Barnes & Noble, and small independent shops (that might even focus to one subject like mysteries, history, technical, local flavor...).
They lingered on for decades but in later years, the inventory was the same as the other big box bookstores (50 books or less per category, same titles everywhere you went).
Virgin Megastore and Tower Records both still stocked other titles but I didn’t have those in my city.
Now Half Price Books gets many new titles unopened in less than a year of publication for roughly 1/3 of cover price (or even less). Then there is Amazon which offers up to 50% off new titles.
The old retail market can’t compete with the low price expectations of consumers and the wider selection offered at the competitors (Amazon/HalfPrice/Bookfinder) to the few big chains remaining.
Remember Waldenbooks? B. Dalton's?
We still have a Vroman's nearby in Pasadena which is hanging tough, but the days of the independent bookstore are numbered.
Barnes & Noble is OK. They are starting to fill up more store space with toys and such. But they seem to have a pretty smart shelving policy. They have one of a lot of the less popular books, rather than having a large number of fewer book titles. So if you're a discriminating buyer there is a better chance that the book you're looking for is in stock and doesn't need to be put on order.
Yeah and I despise retailers who profile such customers to begin with. They don't NEED that info any more than the feds do. A receipt is all that is needed for a return.
Thanks for posting, I erroneously cited B&N as B.Dalton’s competitor, it was Waldenbooks. And malls sometimes had both of them.
How did FOYLES and BLACKWELLS in London not make this list? You can spend days there without eating and not even notice that you are hungry!
bump for later
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.