A sad note: Saturday was the last day of operation for the last B. Dalton’s in San Diego, the Westfield Horton Plaza branch. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s part of the Great Debookification of America, or at least the Great Debookstorifcation, as book sales continue to move online. Still there’s a part of me that wonders what the world is coming to, if even the big chain bookstores are disappearing from the malls. This closure (the final chapter in a decision made years ago by parent company Barnes & Noble to shutter all the outlets of the chain it acquired in 1986) means there are no bookstores in Horton Plaza or Fashion Valley (which lost its Waldenbooks about a year and a half ago).
Of course other malls continue to have at least one, including Mission Valley ( Borders in the malls west annex), Plaza Bonita (Borders), Westfield UTC (Crown Books in the former Robinson-May building), Hazard Center (Barnes & Noble). Moreover, the chains (including Bookstar, Borders, and Barnes & Noble) can be found in at least a dozen locations throughout the country.
But it wasn’t a good year for San Diego independent booksellers either, what with the closure of the fabulous Wahrenbrock’s downtown and Bill Burgett’s store in Normal Heights. Rumors have floated that Adams Avenue Book would also be a casualty. But that, happily, isn’t true (though the store will be closed for renovations, probably in February and March, it will be re-opening.) And San Diego still has a handful of other wonderful independents, with my favorites among them including Warwick’s and D.G. Wills in La Jolla, Coronado’s Bay Books, Upstart Crow in Seaport Village, and Book Works in the Del Mar’s Flower Hill center.
