Kathy Stewart, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – The Georgetown Barnes & Noble opened its doors for the final time Saturday.
There were no signs the store’s windows announcing the closing, and many people didn’t realize this location of the book store chain was closing after Dec. 31.
Rackel Sacks was waiting in line for the store to open when she heard the news.
“No, are you serious? I had no clue that it was even going to close at all,” said the college student from Bethesda.
Sacks has been coming to this store since she was about five years old, and says she found it to be a place of comfort.
“It’s sad. I feel like everyone is buying, like, the Kindles and all these things,” says Sally Storch, another college student waiting in line for the store to open.
She says Kindles are great for travel, but she really likes having her books and being able to turn a page.
“I don’t want to be reading things on screens. It’s kind of sad that it’s all turning that way, electronically.”
Barnes & Noble lost its lease in the building, and started quietly announcing the store was closing down.
“A place to sit and read and take your time is going to be missing in Georgetown — which is a real pity, says “says Malcolm Kelly, who lives right up the road from the store.
He adds that there is still a smaller bookstore nearby.
Lori Dicesare, who works out at a gym by the bookstore, says the era of going to the bookstore with your kids or the family is over.
She says taking her kids to a bookstore gets her son off the XBox and her daughter off of her iPad.
She says that’s an experience you can’t get at an online bookstore.
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