Big city left with no bookstore
Here come the Texas jokes…again.
Big city left with no bookstore
Here come the Texas jokes…again.
Steers and queers! Or did you do that one already?
Seriously, I was just reading that story before popping back here. I can't imagine it. That where you are?
Well, if it's any consolation, at least Amazon offers discounts on most of the game products you can get there. No substitute for browsing the shelves, I know... My condolences.
Big city left with no bookstore
Here come the Texas jokes…again.
Nah, I wouldn't read much into it.
But then again, neither would the folks in Laredo... =P
That's a very sad state of affairs...250,000 people and no bookstore...should be a national scandal but it won't be
Like someone posted in the comments of the article, what's the big deal? They still have two public libraries. If you are really interested in parting with your money to get a book donate some money to the library and they will get it for you. Hell, most libraries will get it for you even if you don't donate just because you asked for it. Besides RPGs I haven't bought a book in years because I can get them from the library.
I'm the opposite. I haven't gone to a library in years. When I have a good book, I loathe to part with it as I may revisit it at a later date. Half Price Books is my BFF.
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In seriousness, I'm surprised some entrepreneurial type hasn't jumped on the opportunity to open a bookstore without competition from the big chains. They could do pretty well there for a few years, until the chains realize that someone else is turning a profit and they open up stores there again...
They have books in Texas?
We usually burn them. ;)
In seriousness, I'm surprised some entrepreneurial type hasn't jumped on the opportunity to open a bookstore without competition from the big chains. They could do pretty well there for a few years, until the chains realize that someone else is turning a profit and they open up stores there again...
Only to drive the private owner out of business, run a few more years and close down...
Sounds like that's what happened.
How's real-estate there? Maybe I'll finally open my Game Emporium Bar & Grill down there...
[Emeril] BAM! [/Emeril]
They have books in Texas?We usually burn them. ;)Wait wait... I have nother one!
** spoiler omitted **
You'd also need a shelf dedicated to football, trucks, and guns. That would about cover it all.
don't forget animal husbandry.
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You'd also need a shelf dedicated to football, trucks, and guns. That would about cover it all.They have books in Texas?We usually burn them. ;)Wait wait... I have nother one!
** spoiler omitted **
This news story is like one of those jokes where people are just looking for punchlines... It's all in good fun.
I hope the people in Laredo get a new bookstore soon.
"That leaves Laredo, Texas, population of 250,000, one of the largest cities in the United States without a bookstore. "
WTF? How is 250,000 one of the largest cities in the US?
I wonder if this is just 'new' bookstores. Do they have no used bookstores?
Meh. If you want to peruse books, the library is a perfect spot. If you want to buy books, Amazon, Alibris, eBay, and all the online sites of the 'brick and mortar' bookstores await.
I am becoming much more ambivilant to the 'chain' bookstores as time goes on. Their sections I enjoy (scifi, fantasy, RPGs, comics) are all shrinking or being overwhelmed by 'media tie-ins'.
If I want to go to a bookstore I'd much rather go to a library book sale or a used bookstore. I always find awesome gems perusing the dusty used stacks.
Maybe it's just an awkward syntax... "Of the cities in the US without a bookstore, Laredo is one of the largest."
?
That may be giving the writers at CNN a little too much credit, though.
I didn't think of that. That would be very ambiguous!
Meh. If you want to peruse books, the library is a perfect spot. If you want to buy books, Amazon, Alibris, eBay, and all the online sites of the 'brick and mortar' bookstores await.
Interesting. That is pretty much the same way I felt about the announcement of 4e and subsequent gnashing of teeth.
Meh. If you want to peruse books, the library is a perfect spot. If you want to buy books, Amazon, Alibris, eBay, and all the online sites of the 'brick and mortar' bookstores await.
Not familiar with Alibris. Comments?
Anyone has any good recommendation of online site bookstores that have good prices and/or stock obscure titles?
Hah! More ignorance of Texas... perhaps much of it willful and the rest negligent.
I find the description of Laredo as a big city funny. For those without TX standards, it is not a big city. Maybe a big town, maybe a small city, definitely not a big city. For all you Half-Price Books lovers, you may thank Texas, and Dallas in particular. Have fun with your stereo-types, I knew plenty of small-minded, culturally illiterate, and parochial people when I lived in NJ and NYC, and certainly met them when I visited CA, although they dressed it up in contemporary casual.
Meh. If you want to peruse books, the library is a perfect spot. If you want to buy books, Amazon, Alibris, eBay, and all the online sites of the 'brick and mortar' bookstores await.
Not familiar with Alibris. Comments?
Anyone has any good recommendation of online site bookstores that have good prices and/or stock obscure titles?
Alibris is good for obscure books and more 'collectable' books if you are into first-run copies or signed by author stuff. Their prices are a bit more. IMHO, you can't beat the used bookstores tied into Amazon. Most of them will send you a book for .01, just to get the $3.99 in shipping. $4 for pretty much any title is aces with me, and I don't really care about condition I just wanna read the damn thing!
HPB originated in Dallas, right?
Alibris is good for obscure books and more 'collectable' books if you are into first-run copies or signed by author stuff. Their prices are a bit more. IMHO, you can't beat the used bookstores tied into Amazon. Most of them will send you a book for .01, just to get the $3.99 in shipping. $4 for pretty much any title is aces with me, and I don't really care about condition I just wanna read the damn thing!
I'm not concerned much with 1st run or signed books. And I have used the used resellers on Amazon, too. The only thing that gets on my nerves at times is when I'm buying a bundle of books from one reseller and I'm getting slapped with the $3.99 S&H for each purchase. I know fully well that when bundled together, the S&H isn't going to be THAT high. I think its true intent is to pass the cost of doing business with Amazon getting their cut to be passed onto the consumer.
HPB originated in Dallas, right?
Uh yep.
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Hah! More ignorance of Texas... perhaps much of it willful and the rest negligent.
I find the description of Laredo as a big city funny. For those without TX standards, it is not a big city. Maybe a big town, maybe a small city, definitely not a big city. For all you Half-Price Books lovers, you may thank Texas, and Dallas in particular. Have fun with your stereo-types, I knew plenty of small-minded, culturally illiterate, and parochial people when I lived in NJ and NYC, and certainly met them when I visited CA, although they dressed it up in contemporary casual.
Bah. You and your reality are out to spoil our fun.
Hah! More ignorance of Texas... perhaps much of it willful and the rest negligent.
I find the description of Laredo as a big city funny. For those without TX standards, it is not a big city. Maybe a big town, maybe a small city, definitely not a big city. For all you Half-Price Books lovers, you may thank Texas, and Dallas in particular. Have fun with your stereo-types, I knew plenty of small-minded, culturally illiterate, and parochial people when I lived in NJ and NYC, and certainly met them when I visited CA, although they dressed it up in contemporary casual.
I wouldn't be surprised. I live in the northeast, work in NYC, and live in NJ. This area is as close-minded, racist, and bigoted as the rest of the US and the rest of the world.
HPB originated in Dallas, right?Uh yep.
Is the original location still in existence? Is it HYOOOGE?
I know fully well that when bundled together, the S&H isn't going to be THAT high. I think its true intent is to pass the cost of doing business with Amazon getting their cut to be passed onto the consumer.
Sure. But I take the $3.99 as part of the actual price. That's how they can offer the books for .01 in the first place, otherwise it wouldn't be worth their time. Now, I can either A: Go to Borders/B&N and pay $8 for each paperback I want or B: Go on to Amazon and get them for $4 and wait a week for delivery.
Plus, I like hardcovers, and they are now heading into the $30 range in brick and mortar stores. I can get them used, pretty much a week after release for 1/2 that, including shipping. Plus, the selection is much nicer online.
Yeah, Aaron, I just usually find great stuff and great people everywhere, and discover that even when prejudice has a basis in reality, the bigger and more general it is, generally the more irrational. For example, New Yorkers' prejudice against Jersey. I'd rather live in Jersey, if I could afford to buy some land and build a house there.
Okay, I went and read the article and my mouth dropped open. Funny story: my baby-mama was going to be sent there to manage that store years ago. I bet she is glad now she didn't go, for multiple reasons.
Hah! Have fun with your stereo-types, I knew plenty of small-minded, culturally illiterate, and parochial people when I lived in NJ and NYC, and certainly met them when I visited CA, although they dressed it up in contemporary casual.
It was all in good fun. I'm a Texan and I don't think there's anything wrong with a little good-natured self-deprecation.
Is the original location still in existence? Is it HYOOOGE?
The original location is still in existence, but it is across the street from the current flagship store, which is one of those huge box stores that went out of business (Sports warehouse of some kind.) It's easily the biggest book store in the metroplex. When coming to DFW, be sure and leave time for a visit. It doesn't always have the most RPG stuff, as selection can vary widely depending on when you visit. I still kind of miss the original store, which had a ship built inside of it (was it a restaurant once upon a time?) I think they use it as a warehouse now. They have at least three warehouses in the metroplex, and it isn't the big one (which is a real warehouse). Too bad they got out of the online business. Man, I cleaned up during those couple of years.
Hah! Have fun with your stereo-types, I knew plenty of small-minded, culturally illiterate, and parochial people when I lived in NJ and NYC, and certainly met them when I visited CA, although they dressed it up in contemporary casual.It was all in good fun. I'm a Texan and I don't think there's anything wrong with a little good-natured self-deprecation.
I can tell you, if I lived in Laredo, I'd be deprecating the hell out of myself and anyone who'd listen as a strategy to redress the situation. Their best bet would be to replace Big 'n' Nasty with a HPB. (Oops, did I let slip that I used to be a Borders employee?)
Sure. But I take the $3.99 as part of the actual price. That's how they can offer the books for .01 in the first place, otherwise it wouldn't be worth their time. Now, I can either A: Go to Borders/B&N and pay $8 for each paperback I want or B: Go on to Amazon and get them for $4 and wait a week for delivery.
Plus, I like hardcovers, and they are now heading into the $30 range in brick and mortar stores. I can get them used, pretty much a week after release for 1/2 that, including shipping. Plus, the selection is much nicer online.
I don't disagree with you, but it's the "handling" gotcha fees that just plain annoy me. A man's got to be frugal. :)
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Hah! Have fun with your stereo-types, I knew plenty of small-minded, culturally illiterate, and parochial people when I lived in NJ and NYC, and certainly met them when I visited CA, although they dressed it up in contemporary casual.It was all in good fun. I'm a Texan and I don't think there's anything wrong with a little good-natured self-deprecation.
Exactly. And you'll notice that on another thread I nominated my own part of the country for "left armpit of the US".
Pat is right. When I see .01 plus 3.99, it's like the sweet vision of a Texas girl in Daisy Dukes and pig tails, shinin' in the Texas sun...
Pat is right. When I see .01 plus 3.99, it's like the sweet vision of a Texas girl in Daisy Dukes and pig tails, shinin' in the Texas sun...
Mmmm...daisy dukes.
When I was kid I was a Navy brat. My dad was frequently stationed in California. Nearly every summer, we would drive out to Commanche, Texas to visit my dad's family. I had a handful of cousins my age who ignored me or treated me like a second class citizen until the day they discovered I was born at Fort Hood. From then on, I was one of them.
Perspective.
Are there no libraries?
And the schools? Are they still in operation?
The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?
Oh! I was afraid, from the loss of this commercial bookstore, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course; I'm very glad to understand this isn't so.
Many can't go to the public library, or the schools; can't find the Treads or PL; and many would rather die?
If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population of would-be literary elites really only concerned with comic-books and glamor magazines.
It's enough for a man to understand his own library, and not to interfere with other people's lack of one. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!
Wow...it was kind of scary how much I found myself agreeing with that rescroogery.
Funny Texas story:
When I was living in El Paso, me and my crew went over the border into Mexico to drink. I had just arrived a few days ago, and I had never been to Mexico. After a long night of 'drink and drown' bars, we tottered back to the border checkpoint.
When we got there the guard asked me: Nationality? I was hammered, so I said 'Yes'. The guard and a few of his friends started to get antsy until my battle buddy came over and told them, "he's new, just arrived." They backed off, but the guard that had asked me nationality asked me: "Where you from boy?" I replied: "Massachusetts." He laughed and said: "Isn't that Northeast Texas?" I replied drunkenly: "Huh, I always figured Texas was Southwest Massachusetts." Lucky I didn't spend the night in jail LOL.
It's obvious your time in TX made you half of the man you are today.
EDIT: Pat, maybe the guard thought you said, "Boston." That'd explain a lot...
Walmart sells books, don't they? You can not tell me they do not have a Walmart.
It's obvious your time in TX made you half of the man you are today.
Well, I did devolve a bit ...
I'm glad I live in Portland, which has the largest book store in the world.
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Kyobo Book Centre in Seoul, Korea is my all-time favorite bookstore in the entire world. They claim they're the biggest, too. This place is a 12 storey establishment with six levels of underground parking. The ground floor is a mix of languages, and the top three floors are English-only with a ginormous Starbucks and Pizza Hut. I'm salivating just thinking of the place!
I'm glad I live in Portland, which has the largest book store in the world.
I've heard of that place. Sounds like I would get lost for days and come out of it beyond broke. But I'd be happy with all the great finds I'm hauling away. :D