The Borders Bookstore on Peachtree Street in Buckhead, near Lenox Mall in Atlanta, was one of the most important places of my young adulthood. Buckhead was just starting to transition from the party area to luxury high rises, but there was already a population of well-off, educated people with an appetite for solid books, and Borders catered to them. The store was two stories, and rather than the greeting cards and Funkos of today’s bookstores, it was well-stocked with serious nonfiction. The history section was about three times the size of what you’d see anywhere at a modern chain, and it was all like that. It closed in the Fall of 2011, and nothing like it has appeared since.

I should create a Patreon with a $10 million tier: if the readers get me there, I’ll reopen it personally.