Can a national chain really meet the needs of an individual community?

This is a question that I think about more and more as I watch the unfolding "bookstore wars." I always resisted the labeling of Border's as the big, bad chain store. Nobody ever seems to mention that they started out as an independent bookseller. As a point of fact, they were my independent bookseller. I spent a lot of time (and money) in their State Street storefront during my years in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Right up until the bitter end, going into a Border's was a little bit like going home.

So were they a big, bad chain store? Maybe. Or maybe not, as they no more.