Farewell to Borders (Federal Way)

So, yesterday I was feeling under the weather (from the resurgence of last week's cold, which has me again in its grip) but, having stayed inside working on my Kalamazoo paper all Saturday and most of Sunday, was badly in need of an outing to stave off cabin fever. Just the night before I'd been looking up several things in James McKillop's wonderful OXFORD DICTIONARY OF CELTIC MYTHOLOGY, and noted that on the inside front cover where I sign and date my books I'd added a note to the effect that I'd bought this on Saturday July 26th 2003 on my first visit to the Borders in Federal Way, Janice having taken me there for a pokeabout when I was feeling sick.

Thus reminded, I thought it'd be a good idea to go down and poke around in the same bookstore's mythology section again and see what I might find, having had good luck there in the past,* followed by a work session at the nearby Starbucks. After all, this is one of my regular work-offsite spots: a pleasant drive down the West Valley Highway and Peasley Canyon Road, a browse in the bookstore and occasional purchase of a book or manga, followed by an hour or two's work in the Starbucks next door.

Accordingly, I got my laptop, some reference material I needed, and a thermos of tea to see me on the way down and back again. The drive down went smoothly, and the break from the books helped clear my head from the bits relating to the paper that had been going round and round all day, but when I arrived, I got a shock: the huge

STORE CLOSING

sign hanging out front.

Turns out it's all too true. Going inside, I found lots of people and a mostly empty store, with a '8 days till closing' sign hanging high and lots of '70% off' markers. Even the shelves and bookstands themselves were for sale.

Apparently this sale had been going on all month. Needless to say, I didn't find much. The manga section had been pretty well picked over. The mythology section simply no longer existed, and the same was true of the D&D shelves. What miscellaneous fantasy that remained didn't include anything that tempted me; the only book I almost bought was a new one called CHURCHILL'S SECRET WAR, about the devastating effects of his India policy during World War II (the author blames him for three million deaths). This one looks interesting, but too far from my regular interest to buy; I may check it out from the library later on.

So, after sadly departing from a favorite store for the last time, it was over to the Starbucks for some tea and some work, after which I went back home for a few more hours' reading (taking lots of notes as I went as relevant for the paper). As once again the economy proves that 'too big to fail' really means only 'for now'.

--JDR

*I recall that on my second visit, I'd found THE BURNING OF BRIDGET CLEARY there.