Photo by Ruben Schade, via Flickr.

The demise of Borders is causing many of us to consider the role of bookstores — heck, the role of any physical stores — in our increasingly digital world. Sure, we like going to them, but with Amazon.com and others making it easier than ever to browse, buy and even read books in digital form, do we really need bookstores anymore?

Of course, many people would say yes. Matthew Yglesias has a great post on this topic on the Think Progress blog, wrestling with the challenges of the modern-day book buyer. (Via Forbes.) He writes:

“I love shopping online, but I was actually quite resistant to the original Amazon business of buying books online because I wanted to support the idea of a bookstore. And to me a bookstore meant not a quaint little dusty shop somewhere, but precisely a Borders or a Barnes & Noble. A bright, large, well-kept shiny temple to media! Magazines! DVDs! Twenty percent off on new hardcovers! Coffee! Bathrooms! Comic books! A perfect self-contained ecosystem. A place to be alone, and yet a place to see and be seen.”

Ironically, the decision by Borders to partner with Amazon.com a decade ago is getting the blame as a watershed moment contributing to the bookstore chain’s demise.

Random question: Why didn’t Amazon and Starbucks form a joint venture to take over the Borders chain? It would have preserved Starbucks’ footprint in the stores, and given Amazon a physical presence to use as a real-world showroom for its books, Kindles, and pretty much anything else.

At any rate, let us know where you stand on this topic by voting in our poll below.

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