Hail to Home Shopping!

I used to love our Barnes and Noble.  It was in a strip mall close but not too close to the mall.  It was cozy inside with dark wood shelves and appropriate lighting.  Then they made a deal with the devil aka the mall.  Now the store has bright supermarket lighting.  It's two steps from the food court so it perpetually smells like Chick-fil-a which goes great with the smell of brewed coffee.  Since its next to the food court you can never find a parking spot that isn't like 3 stores away, and it is heavily trafficked by cars, making getting into the store an alarmingly real game of Frogger.  The crafting section is right outside the cafe and when people sit in the tables there, I can't bend over without sticking my behind in the faces of the unfortunate patrons.  It's not comfortable for me or for them.  Another unfortunate side effect of being in the mall is the alarming increase of angst ridden tweens.  They park themselves in aisles, sitting around on the floor taking pictures with their cell phones for their MySpace pages and talking about Twilight.  Blech.  Thank goodness for the online version.  Between bn.com and amazon.com, I'm free to find books not stocked in our smallest possible footprint stores.  Even better, there is no smell of Chick-fil-a, my favorite sections are always well stocked, and no one shoves me into the shelving trying to squeeze between me and the cafe tables.  Oh yeah, I can shop in my PJs, and it is totally appropriate (yes, college girl in the flannel pants and sweatshirt who didn't shower this morning, it is inappropriate to leave the house looking like that.).