In early 2013 Barnes and Noble will close up shop, leaving Reston with no store to buy new books.
It is no question that bookstores nationwide have taken a hit as technology has taken over readers’ worlds with devices such as the Kindle and Nook. However, this is not the reason for Barnes and Noble’s departure from Reston.
According to an interview with the Reston Patch, David Deason, Vice President of Development at Barnes and Noble, said the company does not want to leave and even offered to pay more to stay.
“We tried extremely hard to come to an agreement with the property owner to extend the lease at our Reston location,” Deason said. “But despite our offering significant additional rent, the property owner was unwilling to agree to an extension. We regret that we will be closing this location at the end of February 2013.”
This has created mixed reactions with Restonians as some find bookstores necessary to society, while others see the usefulness starting to diminish.
“It’s going to be really sad that we don’t have a bookstore,” librarian Linda Franz said. “It’s always a good place to go. It’s a good place to meet, it’s a good place to have coffee and I know my kids used to love to go. I think it’s very sad and very short-sided.”
“I’m okay with Barnes and Noble closing,” senior Hayden Hall said. “It’s expensive and I can get much cheaper [books] on Amazon. I’ve gone many times only to learn that the books I want aren’t in stock and I have to order them [through the store] and wait for them to come in.”
Online sites such as Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com create a new market for book selling. Ordering online comes with an additional cost of shipping and printed books are already more costly than eBooks. Some struggle to find further worth in printed copies.
“Due to Kindles and other electronic or online reading devices, the use of actual books are less important and a waste of resources,” Hall said. “The world is evolving and becoming more electronic and hard copy books are less important. People should invest in a Kindle.”
However, there are those such as Frantz who still believe in a more traditional approach.
“I think it’s going to be very different for families because there are still lots of people who like to have a paper book to read,” Frantz said. “Particularly I think there are students who still highlight in their books and put tabs on them and things like that. A lot of people like to go to bookstores to browse and look at different books and find different things. Online books are wonderful but you still sometimes like to see things.”
“I feel like people spend so much time looking at screens,” assistant manager of Reston’s Used Book Shop Julie Lehman said. “Books are a wonderful departure from that: you can smell, touch, look, and soak up the atmosphere. A book is more like a friend and I hope they don’t go extinct.”
The only other bookstore locally is Reston’s Used Book Shop at Lake Anne. This means that after Barnes and Noble shuts down there will be nowhere to buy new books. Lehman is sad Barnes and Noble is closing, but believes it will be good for smaller bookstores like Reston’s.
“I’m optimistic,” Lehman said. “It can only help, I think people want a place they can go to read and browse and there will always be a market for that. It’s sad that they’re closing but it’s potentially good for us and other independent book stores.”
Although opinions vary, many agree Barnes and Noble will be missed.
“Every time I go to Barnes and Noble, what I love is that you’ll see a mom or a dad sitting in the children’s section reading with their kids,” receptionist Liz Knapp said. “It’s the kind of thing you can’t duplicate in any other kind of store. You can’t do it at home because there’s something about the bookstore that is overwhelming to kids and gives them a love of reading.”
