[MrB]

3) It hired and catered to liberals almost exclusively.

[wildandcrazyrussian]

To the contrary, I have always been very successful finding conservative books at the Border’s near Pittsburgh, while the Barnes and Noble downtown (which went out of business years ago) catered to the liberal crowd.

[ClearCase_guy]

I buy a lot of books -- from many sources. I shop at Borders pretty regularly. I remember one time when I went to the cashier with four books. The cashier was pretty obviously homosexual.

First book -- scanned and stacked.
Second book -- scanned and stacked.
Third book -- scanned and stacked.
Fourth book (a Bible) -- made a show of not touching it. Gingerly nudged it toward the scanner with fingertips. Didn't add it to the stack. Bagged three books with no muss, no fuss, then used a pinkie to sweep the Bible into the bag with the others.

I'd say that at some level the young man knew where he was destined to end up, and was very afraid about his future.