Description: By the end of the previous entry, I was forced to run back to LA, after having failed reaching the apparently just mythical beaches of Long Beach. I had two very good reasons for that. The first was extensively described in that entry; the second is explained here.
Non-American readers may be surprised, but in the way from the metro to the ocean, I had stopped for a coffee at a Borders bookstore. What is an oddity in other countries is the American norm. Borders bookstores can be found almost in every corner and they often include a branch of Seattle's Best Coffee.
The point is that in such stores you can pick up a book, buy a coffee and browse the reading material while enjoying the excellent coffee. And all that, while sitting on comfortable coaches. How can one pass in front of one of them without visiting it for a few minutes? Or maybe, just for half an hour. 45 minutes at the most.
In any case, I had a coffee, found out that a book I was interested in didn’t still arrive to this branch, and munched on one of the excellent cakes served there with the coffee. By the time I reached bliss, it was too late for the beach. But I’m running ahead.
Time and PlaceBorders "At the Pike" is part of a large shopping complex at 101 S. Pine Ave, Long Beach, just in front of the Long Beach Convention Center, the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Queen Mary vessel. It can be reached from the metro Blue Line Transit Mall Station in Long Beach.
The shop is open daily from 10 AM to 10 PM, with the exception of Fridays and Saturdays, when it stays open until 11 PM.
Bean FridayMost Seattle's Best Coffee branches have a special day in which they offer special coffee deals. Here, on Bean Fridays, the customer gets a free medium beverage for buying a bag of their excellent coffee.
BordersRelatively unknown outside the US, Borders is the second largest bookstore chain in the US after Barnes & Noble, featuring over 500 branches across the country. It was founded in 1971 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As expected, beyond books the chain offers CDs, DVDs, stationery, souvenirs and related products.
Most of its shops are large – though the one I visited in downtown
San Francisco was a notorious exception to this rule – and include state of the art search technology as well as are superbly organized. Books are separated in them into specific areas by topics and then alphabetically ordered. Several computerized stations in each shop allow studying the availability of books in the shop as well in another shops of the chain.
Sipping a coffee while reading books in the bookstore seem to be an integral part of the contemporaneous American culture. Spotting people systematically reading books at these bookstores is normal and apparently part of the chain’s business plan. But capitalism holds here more surprises for the traveler carefully taking note of the native culture and practices.
On the Oddities of CapitalismSeattle's Best Coffee began its operations in Coupeville, Washington in 1970. After a complex history, it was bought by Starbucks in 2003, a fact that is relevant to subsequent events. Then, in 2004, Borders signed a contract with Seattle's Best Coffee and most of its branches feature a coffeeshop managed by Seattle's Best Coffee.
As mentioned above, Border’s main competitor is the largest bookstores chain in the US, Barnes & Noble. American readers of this entry are probably familiar with the fact that the coffeeshops at the Barnes & Noble shops are managed by ... Starbucks, the actual Seattle's Best Coffee owners.
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