I'm sitting here reminiscing on Gainesville bookstores from years gone by...there have been a lot of them and some were outstanding. Funny, though, although with audio media, phonograph records went through a number of digitilizations, first with compact discs and then to MP3 and now streaming, printed material is taking a while being synchronized with our computer era. Sure, Kindle is prospering and it's easy getting books on it...that is, if they are still in print. Unfortunately, most of the ones out of print are unavailable in the digital era and you have to get the hard copy to read them. Amazon has largely supplanted local used bookstores as a source of these old books, but as one who likes to browse shelves and pick up books and leaf through them, it falls short in that respect. In Gainesville, we still have some bookstores, but I remember times when there were some awfully good ones, like...
Book Gallery---This store, the "original" Book Gallery until it spun off into Book Gallery West on NW 16th Blvd (that one still stands), was in the Publix shopping center on N. Main St. between 10th and 16th Avenues. In the late 80's we'd go there as our number one source of used books...the used book collection was vast.
Goering's---Situated on the NW corner of University Avenue and 13th Street, it was loaded with all sorts of books and magazines, one of my favorite browsing spots. Before the building was torn down for construction, they had opened a second store further west on University past 34th Street but both closed down.
Gainesville Book Company---Located in the industrial park on NW 97th Blvd off 39th Avenue, this small shop was loaded with ultra-cheap used books...I especially liked the science fiction collection and bought many of the Stephen King books I would read through this period during the 2000's decade. They were open every other weekend.
Borders---A huge store with new books now occupied by the equally-excellent DSW shoe store on Newberry Road near I-75, I loved browsing through it and found some excellent puzzle books...and got hooked on the Magicians series by Lev Grossman. They also had a great CD and DVD collection as well as a big coffee shop/sitting area.
Media Play---Across from K-Mart off Newberry Road just west of the Interstate, this store...like Borders...featured books, CDs and DVDs.
Barnes and Nobles---On Archer Road right near the also-now-defunct Atlanta Bread Company...where I used to hang out for their excellent coffee and sitting area, I spent a good amount of time here. B&N has their own "Kindle", which they call "Nook". My take on the two is that until out-of-print books are available on them, then they are going to continue to be secondary to hard copy books.
The Florida Bookstore---Right across from the University of Florida campus on University Avenue, it was a primary supplier of textbooks, class material and school supplies. Of course, other companies have sprung up in the area to replace it, but I wish this one was still there. Once it briefly had a second outlet on SW 34th Street, but now there's a Sherwin Williams paint store at that spot.
The "First" Books-a-Million---Replacing the Skeeters restaurant on NW 13th Street, Books-a-Million was my primary stopping place before my graveyard shift job in the 1990s...I'd always get the flavored coffee of the day and then browse around. I read the first four Harry Potter books sitting in there, a few pages at the time, as well as some others. It's been replaced by the used bookstore 2nd and Charles and still has an outlet on Newberry Road near the Oaks mall.
Walden and B.Dalton at the Oaks Mall...I usually didn't go to these unless I happened to be walking through the mall on other business, but they were always fun to stop at and browse.
Archer Square bookstore...I don't remember this business's name, but it was in the Archer Square shopping center on Archer Road just west of 34th Street that featured a Winn-Dixie and Tony and Pat's Pizza, along with a kiddie's place called Fun Factory. It was in the 1980s and I would walk across the field from my nearby apartment and browse around...it was here that I bought my first Isaac Asimov sci-fi anthology paperbacks.
Westgate Plaza used bookstore...I don't remember this one's name either, but they had a great selection of books...I bought Frank Herbert's entire Dune series here. Now the whole plaza, along SW 34th Street just south of University Avenue, has been demolished and is being rebuilt, but the bookstore left a while ago.
I'm sure I'll think of more, but it's kind of sad to see these fine establishments come and go...they deserved better...
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