Ghosts of Bookstores Past, Part 1
My local Borders was among the recent stores to close. I would often go there, printed coupon in hand, to get some new release I was too impatient to order on Amazon. While the closure is sad, it's not a deeply emotional loss for me. We have been here almost three years and I hadn't formed a strong emotional bond with the place-and we do have a Barnes & Noble that is even closer to my house.
However, the closure does evoke the memories of two other lost bookstores back in my hometown. Stores that I still dream about. Places I knew by smell and the taste in the air.
My childhood B. Dalton Store was in the Kings Mall. It had dark wood trim and bright orange 1970s counters. The Hallmark Store was next door, which in my view was the most fantastic pairing ever. Books and gee-gaws! My favorite things. Not even the neighboring K.B. Toys held that same appeal.
I remember being five years old and shopping at B. Dalton with my Grandma. Too short to see over the counter, I had to stand on tip-toe to even view the employee on the other side.
I shopped their children's section for years, and as I grew taller, my choices changed, too. In 6th grade I wandered over to the fantasy section and bought my first "adult" purchases: Dragonlance books.
The store had big wooden ladders to reach the overstock shelves on high. I wanted desperately to climb those ladders and see what treasure troves were hidden above. Mom scolded me for even touching the ladders. "Read the sign. 'Employees Only,'" she said. I was determined to work there someday so I could climb those ladders… and I did, in the store's incarnation in a new mall.
To me, the Kings Mall didn't seem outdated or old. It was my hometown mall. Sure, the malls in Visalia and Fresno were fancier, but they were bigger cities and everything seemed fancier there. I could walk the Kings Mall with my eyes closed. It had a J.C. Penney's with rock-encrusted outer walls. The inner corridors-there were just two, shaped like a long-topped T-had big dark brown square tiles and fake trees. The far end of the mall held the shadowy arcade where my brother spent hours and hours dropping quarters. Street Fighter II was the big hit in those final years. Then there was the Thrifty Drugstore, where we would grab 29-cent single scoop ice cream cones (the horror when the price rose to 35-cents! Then 39!) as we left the mall. So many memories, and all of them revolved around that B. Dalton and Hallmark at the junction of the mall.
March 6th, 1993 the new Hanford Mall opened. Yes, I remember the date. I don't know why. I was in 7th grade. It was a huge deal. The Kings Mall sat as a darkened hulk for some months, and then the wrecking ball came. I don't know if anyone else mourned that loss. After all, we had a shiny new place to shop, and an even larger B. Dalton (now a Borders Express) to enjoy.
Yet I still remember how thrilled I was to be tall enough to see those orange counters.
However, the closure does evoke the memories of two other lost bookstores back in my hometown. Stores that I still dream about. Places I knew by smell and the taste in the air.
My childhood B. Dalton Store was in the Kings Mall. It had dark wood trim and bright orange 1970s counters. The Hallmark Store was next door, which in my view was the most fantastic pairing ever. Books and gee-gaws! My favorite things. Not even the neighboring K.B. Toys held that same appeal.
I remember being five years old and shopping at B. Dalton with my Grandma. Too short to see over the counter, I had to stand on tip-toe to even view the employee on the other side.
I shopped their children's section for years, and as I grew taller, my choices changed, too. In 6th grade I wandered over to the fantasy section and bought my first "adult" purchases: Dragonlance books.
The store had big wooden ladders to reach the overstock shelves on high. I wanted desperately to climb those ladders and see what treasure troves were hidden above. Mom scolded me for even touching the ladders. "Read the sign. 'Employees Only,'" she said. I was determined to work there someday so I could climb those ladders… and I did, in the store's incarnation in a new mall.
To me, the Kings Mall didn't seem outdated or old. It was my hometown mall. Sure, the malls in Visalia and Fresno were fancier, but they were bigger cities and everything seemed fancier there. I could walk the Kings Mall with my eyes closed. It had a J.C. Penney's with rock-encrusted outer walls. The inner corridors-there were just two, shaped like a long-topped T-had big dark brown square tiles and fake trees. The far end of the mall held the shadowy arcade where my brother spent hours and hours dropping quarters. Street Fighter II was the big hit in those final years. Then there was the Thrifty Drugstore, where we would grab 29-cent single scoop ice cream cones (the horror when the price rose to 35-cents! Then 39!) as we left the mall. So many memories, and all of them revolved around that B. Dalton and Hallmark at the junction of the mall.
March 6th, 1993 the new Hanford Mall opened. Yes, I remember the date. I don't know why. I was in 7th grade. It was a huge deal. The Kings Mall sat as a darkened hulk for some months, and then the wrecking ball came. I don't know if anyone else mourned that loss. After all, we had a shiny new place to shop, and an even larger B. Dalton (now a Borders Express) to enjoy.
Yet I still remember how thrilled I was to be tall enough to see those orange counters.