Imagine sitting in a cozy room, in a comfortable arm chair sipping a cup of steaming hot chocolate. You are bundled up in a fuzzy blanket in your footie pajamas reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the eighth time that year.
Now envision a short, squat man whose belly is oozing out of pants that are two sizes too small. The buttons on his suit jacket hang on to dear life as he leans over, leering at you.
His mustache is curled at the ends and he keeps running his hand through slicked back hair, trying to cover two horn protruding from the top of his head. In a harsh, low voice he orders you out and steers you outside in the cold, wintry night. Then he slams the door in your face and jeers as you rattle the door in an attempt to get back inside.
Right before your eyes, the man changes your all-time favorite place into The Container Store, a temporary space-filler before putting his plan to level out the complex into effect.
The forced removal of Barnes and Noble, the last bookstore in Reston, has devastated many bookworms.
Where will students purchase their books for English class? Where will people buy books for pleasure?
Admittedly, students can easily order books online or go to the library, but there is something special about holding a book in your hands, flipping through it, and smelling that new book smell.
Barnes and Noble provides a quiet place to work, study, or read with little to no disturbance. A calm and peaceful setting, it is especially inviting because of its opening into Starbucks, creating the perfect combination of hot coffee and a good book.
With Reston no longer having its favorite bookstore, everything seems just a little emptier, a little gloomier, a little heartbroken.
It will be difficult to recover from this blow to our hearts, but we will pull through in the end. In the meantime, the chances that I will head over to The Container Store for my containing needs are slim.
Hopefully, Barnes and Noble will find another place in Reston to set up. Whether a small cellar underground, or the size of the Mall of America, it will be welcomed back with open arms and healed wounds.
