Last week, Fort Worth unveiled the new, improved Sundance Square. Where once there were a couple of parking lots, now there is a pedestrian plaza complete with dancing fountains and a juggler.
It's a good thing. Now for the bad thing: Sundance Square's 17-year-old Barnes & Noble is shutting its doors, and the closure of a book store is always a cause for sadness.
But folks in Fort Worth might be taking their mourning a bit too far. Not one but two Change.org petitions have sprung up in the past couple of weeks calling for the store to stay open. Here's one posted by Amanda Valdez, an employee at the location:
It brings a diversity to the downtown Fort Worth area and is loved by many. People from around the WORLD have made sure to check out this store when they are in town because of its historical value. We have pictures of historical Fort Worth as well as our beloved cowboy statue that people come to get a picture with on the daily! Working as a bookseller and seeing our store close down has broken my heart and the feedback from customers about this situation has astonished me. The community is sad about this shut down, and I am not talking just about the Fort Worth community, I am talking about neighboring communites and tourists who make sure to always stop by. Downtown Fort Worth doesn't need anymore bars or restaurants!
A woman who signed the other petition wrote, "It's my husband and I's 'place'. We went there for our second date, we went there to celebrate our engagement, and many other trips there. It's going to break my heart if it goes away!"
Don't get me wrong. I like Barnes & Noble. It's a nice place to kill a couple of hours, and it's a good place to work as far as retail goes (I toiled in the receiving room for a couple of years during college), but this is not some quaint mom-and-pop operation struggling valiantly to stay afloat. It's a big corporation that makes big-corporation decisions.
Best to just pour one out and move on.
Send your story tips to the author, Eric Nicholson.
