In Praise of Barnes & Noble

I’m an independent bookstores guy. I’ll use any excuse to drive 25 minutes up I-95 from my home in New Haven to Madison’s fabulous R.J. Julia Booksellers. I also like to roam the aisles of Atticus Bookstore Cafe in downtown New Haven. When I want to purchase a book I’ll go there or to R.J. and, if the book isn’t on the shelves, I’ll walk up to the front desk and order it.

Amazon? Cut me a break. Recently I tracked down an out-of-print book (that my bookstores couldn’t get) by searching the web for Amazon alternatives. I found one, Abebooks, that had what I was seeking: “No Beast So Fierce” by Edward Bunker. It’s on the way to my home.

But there’s another important resource for those of us who love books and magazines — stuff you read on a printed page, not on a computer. Yes, it’s a big corporate chain but I have come to appreciate it more and more, and I cheered its recent rebound: Barnes & Noble.

For years I’ve used the B&N in North Haven; not just for its books but for its amazing treasure trove of magazines (in a time when newsstands are becoming increasingly rare) and for its spacious, comfortable cafe. Often I sat there and wrote the drafts for my New Haven Register columns.

The B&N cafes are owned by another big chain, Starbucks. Sure, I’d prefer to patronize an independent coffee shop and I often do so. But these B&N cafes are mellow spaces where nobody’s going to tell you to move on, even if you’ve been there for hours. Nor will they say: “Ya gonna buy that magazine? Ya gonna buy that book?”

Indeed, I’ve noticed the cafes serve as a kind of library for magazine readers. I don’t think many people are buying those periodicals and I can see why. At the Milford B&N this week I picked up a Yankee magazine, browsed through it, saw it had a big feature on the 20 best diners in New England and decided I wanted to hold onto it. When I went to the cash register, I was staggered by the price: $8.50! I bought it anyway but geez Louise, that’s why people are reading the zines at the cafe, then putting them back on the rack.

During my visit to the North Haven B&N this week I jotted down some of the magazine titles being offered: Tattoo Life, Aeroplane, American Whiskey, Whisky Advocate (yep, different spellings), Bourbon, Beer, Wine Spectator, Cigar Snob, Cigar Journal, Cannabis & Tech Today, Boating, Fishing, Bowhunting, Garden and Gun, Poets & Writers, Drones (yes, a magazine about drones!) The shelves are also crammed with mags focusing on dogs, arts and crafts, puzzles, hockey, wrestling, golf, baseball, basketball, football, etc. What are you interested in? Trust me, there’s a magazine about it, at your fingertips.

After you pick out a magazine or a book you’re interested in but not yet sure you want to buy and you get your coffee, you can sit down and hear and observe all manner of interesting people seated around you — other readers, laptopers, parents with their kids, old friends swapping tales, young lovers checking out each other.

This is not a television screen. This is not a computer screen. This is real life. People making connections.

My wife asks me how come I don’t go to a library instead. I do like libraries and I occasionally spend time in them. But when I get a book, I want to take my time with it, maybe scrawl something in the margins. And most libraries don’t serve coffee.

Ironically, I rarely go to the only B&N in New Haven, the one closest to me. Why? For some reason they dismantled their cafe about 10 years ago and cut way back on or eliminated their magazine section. Yes, there are still chairs in which you can read, another great perk of B&N. But it’s not as easy to hang out in that New Haven B&N, which for obvious reasons is called The Yale Bookstore. (Paging the management: college students love coffee).

Most B&N stores also now sell record albums! I was perusing the record racks at the North Haven one and noted these: “Shaun Cassidy’s Greatest Hits,” “L.A. Woman” by the Doors and a remastered “Dark Side of the Moon” by Pink Floyd ($31.99). You can also buy a phonograph. Imagine that.

Like some independent bookstores, many B&N outlets invite authors to do readings for the public. Brian Phelps and I did readings at The Yale Bookstore and the Waterbury B&N for the book we co-wrote, “The Legendary Toad’s Place: Stories From New Haven’s Famed Music Venue.”

B&N is also a community resource. When I was at the Milford store this week I almost couldn’t find a place to sit in the cafe because a large group of people with special needs had taken up a half-dozen tables. I thought that was nice; B&N was providing a comfortable socializing spot for those folks. Nobody said to them: “Hey, time to move on” or “Be quiet.”

You might ask: how is B&N doing? The news is good. After some very rough years, even before the pandemic, profits are up and the company plans to open 30 new stores this year. Some of those stores will operate in locations where Amazon tried and failed to operate bricks-and-mortar bookstores. Boo-yah, Amazon!

I’m not trying to discourage anybody from supporting independent bookstores. We’ve got them all over Connecticut, and they deserve our business. Here’s another one I like, and it’s adjacent to the beautiful Guilford Green and under new ownership: Breakwater Books. If you live anywhere nearby, I suggest you check it out. If you don’t: road trip! They don’t serve coffee but there’s a nice coffee shop just down the street.