Barnes & Noble – the last SCV Bookstore

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

I’ve always been a book worm. Growing up, you could always catch me at a library or bookstore, perusing titles on any given subject (usually history, military hardware, computers, sci-fi or other fiction) for hours on end.

This nerdish tendency only intensified when I moved to the SCV as a lonely 16 year old in the middle of my sophomore year. I had no friends and didn’t know my McBeans from my Castaics, so I spent lots of time in the Hart library and bookstores around town (including Jan Heidt’s old book store, the Walden Books in Granary Square, and the book store in the mall). No bookstore was off limits; I even went to Christian and Mormon bookstores, sometimes on the same day.

Even into my 20s, hanging out at a book store was a great way to kill a few hours. Back then, I considered a visit to the bookstore a successful way to cap off a hot date. What a catch, right ladies?

That all leads me to the warm fuzzies I have in my heart for the Barnes & Noble bookstore on Magic Mountain Parkway. Back in the 90s, I wasn’t plugged into the whole multi-national corporation vs mom ‘ pop bookseller conflict, so, naturally, when B&N opened in September 1995 I was in paperback heaven.

It was the biggest bookstore I’d ever seen! They didn’t grow bookstores like that back on the prairie where I came from, and they sure as hell didn’t offer you tables and chairs and invite you to crack open a stack of books for several hours. This was radical stuff!

Well, 16 years later and the book scene has changed dramatically. Not only can you preview and order books on the computer and have them delivered to your house the next day, but now you can hold an entire library of books inside a device that’s as big as a notepad!

What’s the use of a big bookstore then? I’ll always like them, but they are perhaps a dying breed, just like record stores. Borders is long gone, no one remembers Walden or EB Books so Barnes & Noble is the only real general bookstore in the SCV.

And boy is it changing. I was in there recently and they’ve shuffled just about every book in the store. Current events? Moved, and de-emphasized. The religion section is seemingly expanded, and I couldn’t even find the business books anymore. And worst of all, Barnes & Noble has now become a toy store, devoting at least 1/10th of its floor space to toys. “Smart” toys, but toys nonetheless. That’s in addition to tons of other non-book things, like journals, decorative boxes, trendy man purses, and more.

Barnes & Noble remains a popular hangout in the SCV, but it’s clear they’re adjusting their model because they’re probably not selling as many physical books anymore. So how long until the SCV has no book stores?

Comments (9)

JoshSeptember 8, 2011 at 3:27 pm

Jeff, I totally agree. Bookstores for the most part are joining their younger siblings, record stores (remember Tower, Virgin & The Wherehouse), as things of the past. I can remember at one point in college I was buying at least one new book a week at the Borders in Sand City. Now I sit and home on my couch and with a couple of taps on my iPad, I have the lastest NYT (bravo for adapting newspapers!) bestseller ready to read. While I am in awe of the progress of technology, something in me misses the physicality of the printed word.

ThomasSeptember 8, 2011 at 8:57 pm

The store is on Valencia bl, not magic MFN

ThomasSeptember 8, 2011 at 8:57 pm

Magic mountain pkwy I meant

ToddSeptember 8, 2011 at 10:08 pm

To be fair, its on the corner. Good post Jeff. Whats even more of that dying breed is the used book store. Growing up in Burbank we had Book Castle, which was awesome for so many reasons. Old magazines, including nearly every issue of Time, Life, Playboy and Mad Magazine ever published. Their companion store, Movie World is still there, selling copies of scripts and such, but Book Castle was the place to hang out for an inquisitive pre teen such as myself with $3.00 in my pocket and a chain for my bicycle.

Phil EllisSeptember 9, 2011 at 7:36 am

What? No National Geographics?

DubiousSeptember 9, 2011 at 7:56 am

I recently acquired a Kindle and while it’s great that I can order a new book in a matter of seconds, there’s something about physically holding a book in my hands that I really miss; also being able to look back at a previous page while also having the current one to refer to.

ScottESeptember 9, 2011 at 9:30 am

Trendy man-purses?! European Carry-Alls!

PetzSeptember 9, 2011 at 9:56 am

Barnes and Noble told the Prager Group that they could not meet in their community room because he is controversial and may “offend” some of their patrons. Count Petz as offended, he will go to Amazon and save the sales tax.

ScottESeptember 9, 2011 at 10:36 am

Not for long: http://tinyurl.com/3sasm5b

JoshSeptember 8, 2011 at 3:27 pm
Jeff, I totally agree. Bookstores for the most part are joining their younger siblings, record stores (remember Tower, Virgin & The Wherehouse), as things of the past. I can remember at one point in college I was buying at least one new book a week at the Borders in Sand City. Now I sit and home on my couch and with a couple of taps on my iPad, I have the lastest NYT (bravo for adapting newspapers!) bestseller ready to read. While I am in awe of the progress of technology, something in me misses the physicality of the printed word.
ThomasSeptember 8, 2011 at 8:57 pm
The store is on Valencia bl, not magic MFN
ThomasSeptember 8, 2011 at 8:57 pm
Magic mountain pkwy I meant
ToddSeptember 8, 2011 at 10:08 pm
To be fair, its on the corner. Good post Jeff. Whats even more of that dying breed is the used book store. Growing up in Burbank we had Book Castle, which was awesome for so many reasons. Old magazines, including nearly every issue of Time, Life, Playboy and Mad Magazine ever published. Their companion store, Movie World is still there, selling copies of scripts and such, but Book Castle was the place to hang out for an inquisitive pre teen such as myself with $3.00 in my pocket and a chain for my bicycle.
Phil EllisSeptember 9, 2011 at 7:36 am
What? No National Geographics?
DubiousSeptember 9, 2011 at 7:56 am
I recently acquired a Kindle and while it’s great that I can order a new book in a matter of seconds, there’s something about physically holding a book in my hands that I really miss; also being able to look back at a previous page while also having the current one to refer to.
ScottESeptember 9, 2011 at 9:30 am
Trendy man-purses?! European Carry-Alls!
PetzSeptember 9, 2011 at 9:56 am
Barnes and Noble told the Prager Group that they could not meet in their community room because he is controversial and may “offend” some of their patrons. Count Petz as offended, he will go to Amazon and save the sales tax.
ScottESeptember 9, 2011 at 10:36 am
Not for long: http://tinyurl.com/3sasm5b