Sometimes I regret being a murderer

(written by Lawrence Krubner, however indented passages are often quotes)

For the most part, I think innovation is good, but I regret what is sometimes lost along the way.

I have many fond memories of afternoons spent at Borders bookstore, reading books, drinking coffee, discussing things with friends, or maybe just skimming magazines. When the big box book chains came on the scene in the early 90s, they were a revelation, the variety they offered was exciting. I recall one time in the 90s when myself and my girlfriend read a book together, chilling out in one of the aisles for hours, taking turns reading to each other.

Borders Bookstores is now dead, it entered bankruptcy with no hope of reorganization and the judge ordered it liquidated. A very sad end to what was once a great business.

I have spent the last several years building websites, helping various new media companies put content on the web. Most of the content competes with what used to be sold through bookstores, either books or magazines. I know that, in some small way, I have helped to kill off Borders. I get paid good money to help build these sites, and the new possibilities are exciting, and I have enjoyed myself. But I will miss Borders. Sometimes I regret being a murderer.

This is a photo I recently took of the Borders at 7th Avenue and 33rd Street, in New York, Manhattan. As you can see, it is closed now, just a ghost. It is just 1 block away from where I now work, at a company that puts travel information on the web, the kind of material that once would have gone into travel books or travel magazines.