Sadness

Last night I was in Green Hills to meet up with friends for my roommate's birthday dinner at Cheesecake Factory. I had some time to kill so I thought it would be a good time to check out the new Davis-Kidd. I went in not expecting much, I knew it wouldn't be the same as the cozy bookshop down the street had been. I was still unprepared, though, for how commercial D-K has gone. I walk into incredibily bright flourescent lighting (boo #1). The upstairs is pretty small, but not bad...Okay, this might not be horrible. Then I go downstairs. Boos #2-100 happen down here. First of all, the music and movies section is huge. That's not a bad thing if you're Borders. If you're Davis-Kidd, that's not what your focus is supposed to be on. Remember your ONE aisle of music/movies? Yeah, that was fine. An entire section is now set aside for this. And really the music people (or at least I) bought was the local or folksy stuff...I can't imagine going to D-K for the new Backstreet Boys (even just typing that I think I just threw up a little). To the right of the stairs is row after row devoted to gifts, cards, and other retail frivolities. Again, small space worked before. Now I know this store is bigger so there's room to spread out, but this expansion has made Davis-Kidd lose it's quaint, comfortable, BOOKsellers feel. Oh, and don't even get me started on the signage for the movies/music and kids' sections. Big, bold...Borders. I'm sad, Davis-Kidd. I remember coming to visit my brother in college and the old store was always one of the first stops for my family. When I lived in Green Hills, I was in just about every week. I live off Nolensville Rd. now and I still occasionally made the 25 minute drive just to browse or sit and have a glass of wine at Bronte and skim through a potential buy. So maybe I should say thanks for going commercial on me...Look at the money I'll save on gas.