My Sister and I used to spend Ages in the Borders Bookstore in Brighton when we were living there for studies. With a limited budget, and a limited selection (At leats of what we wanted to read) in the Library, it was our favourite hangout after school.
We used to head over there usually after Dinner (Though would often give the Curry at the Dorm a miss and gradb a £1 Pizza outside) and spend a good 3-4 hours there 3 to 4 days a week.
The staff used to be very friendly, and with the cafe there offering unlimited refils of coffee for £1.50 it was nice place to spend an evening. Watersones was the only serious competitor there, and it was no where as accommodation of people reading there then, and usually had less choice and was more expensive to boot.
I'll be sad to see them go, thoug I can understand part of the reason they are in trouble. With So few store compared to Waterstones who has learned from them and has copied a lot of the successful trimming, its hard to competitive. And with Amazon usually being cheaper and having a wider selection available then any physical store its stooped a lot of people like me (Pre Ebook Reader that is) from making a special trip to get rarely available imports. I used to make a point of visiting the Oxford street or Birmingham stores when I went there to pick up new books, but once I started using Amazon regularly (And Especially after they introduced Super Saver Delivery) couldn't be bothered.
Having said that, I'm probably going to Visit the Oxford Street store the day after (Can I call it a Pilgrimage
) as I'm in London for a couple of days and I'll be down that way anyway (Got to do some shopping
)