The Bookstore, by petite corneille

Last days.  Going out of business.  Everything 20% off.

In the current economic climate, it isn’t hard to find a sign like this on stores all over the region.  It’s certainly hard to miss companies like Circuit City going out of business, but big-box stores leaving is just as impersonal and disconnected as their “sales” staff was when you walked in the door.  I can also try to avoid the obvious – and sappy – trap of saying how “sad” it is that a local business is leaving the DC area.

There is only one problem: it is sad.  A bookstore is a amazing thing.  It is a repository of knowledge, and living proof that our First Amendment is a powerful and empowering (and often frightening) statement of rights.  Local bookstores are the embodiment of our desire to constantly better ourselves.  And so we should miss them when they leave us.

Vertigo’s owners chose to close down with a sense of style.  They announced the closing on their blog, and used the opportunity to explain why local bookstores are in economic trouble.  The focal point, “your shopping dollars help create the community you want to live in“, is followed by a great economic discussion on why supporting local business is valuable.  The best part is they used their closing as a last opportunity to teach.  Bravo.

Goodbye, Vertigo.  You will be missed.

Jonathan Baker

came to DC, left for San Francisco, and then realized he couldn’t live without a daily fix of politics and came back. When not traveling to crazy locations, he speaks and writes for a major software house in CA.