Times are a Changin'

A few days ago the beautiful 3-story Border's Books in downtown San Francisco closed its doors. Another one bites the dust.

I've been so distraught thinking about how much life is rapidly changing and how the internet has affected us in both a good and bad way.

Of course, I make my living with an online shop, but there is something about "mom & pop" shops that nothing can replace. I miss the old days.

Do you remember these?

Or these?

I remember in 1981 when the first little local video rental shop opened. We'd pay $20 to rent a VCR for the weekend along with some VHS tapes. It was so exciting! Now to think that just 30 years later, most of us have lived to see that come and go.

Remember the fun spending hours browsing through a record store? Piling up your stack of 45's or LP's and standing in line. Now with iTunes, there's not even any need for your CD's. And all the record stores...gone.

So, where am I going with this? I don't really know. It's just so depressing to watch things change like this. And I'm saddened to watch "out of business" signs in every town you visit. People are struggling.

I am guilty of purchasing books at Amazon at a discounted price. Perhaps I'm one of the culprits that contributed to book stores filing chapter 11. But, we may not even have books in the future. Reading will probably be online and I'll still be scouting around to find "real books." No wonder so many folks are unemployed...

Tell me, how do you feel about the possibility of no print media? newspapers? books? magazines?

What would you miss most if it was replaced by the internet? Do you think that local 'mom and pops' such as shoe or jewelry repair shops will become extinct?

Am I just having a "feeling-old-at-fifty" moment or do you feel the same?