The 1980s found me on a reading binge. I would read 1 to 2 books per week.

I had a hard time passing up a BookStop location without pulling in. The one in Lincoln Village was where I went the most often. That was at I-35 & 290.

For me the Bookstop’s were so much easier to get to than all the mall book stores. Besides that, I really appreciated the layout and selection that BookStop offered.

By the time they were taken over by Barnes and Noble and their stores started to disappear, my reading had diminished. Then it wasn’t long before Amazon took over as my go to place. So now I’m more likely to download a book than purchase a hard copy, but occasionally I will still purchase a book I can grab ahold of.

Book Stores aren’t what they were at one time

Here are some notable book chain stores that are no longer in business:

1. Borders: Once a major competitor to Barnes & Noble, Borders filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and closed all of its stores by 2012.
2. Books-A-Million: While the company still exists, it has significantly downsized and closed many of its locations over the years, particularly in the face of online competition.
3. Waldenbooks: A subsidiary of Borders, Waldenbooks was a mall-based chain that eventually closed all its stores in the early 2010s.
4. B. Dalton Bookseller: A chain that was popular in the 1980s and 1990s, B. Dalton saw a decline in sales and closed most of its stores by the early 2000s.
5. Crown Books: Known for its discount pricing, Crown Books went bankrupt in the late 1990s and closed many of its stores.
6. Bookstop: Acquired by Barnes & Noble in the 1990s, the Bookstop brand was eventually phased out.
7. The Book Warehouse: A discount bookstore chain that closed its doors in the early 2000s.

These closures reflect the changing landscape of the book retail industry, heavily influenced by the rise of online shopping and digital reading. Amazon was the largest threat to actual bookstores.