There was once a wonderful independent bookstore here in St. Louis whose sales floor was 2x the size of the average B&N or Borders. They were run by people who

There was once a wonderful independent bookstore here in St. Louis whose sales floor was 2x the size of the average B&N or Borders. They were run by people who knew books. I especially appreciated how they had a really good selection of technical books, way better than any of the chains. They had big community book fairs, they ran the only coffee shop that was open late for a mile in any direction, they brought in local music acts. In '97 the owners decided to retire and sold the whole operation to Borders. Borders ran the store for about a year or two and then shut the whole place down when a huge strip mall development containing a Borders store opened a mile away. In hindsight I guess they planned that new store all along, and bought out the little guys because they didn't want the competition from someone who actually knew how to run a better bookstore.