Toddler hangouts: Barnes and Noble
Barnes and Noble used to be pretty far down on the list of bookstores I like to frequent. My top picks are the Regulator Bookshop on Ninth Street in Durham or Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh. But while these small, independent bookstores are the best choices if you actually want to buy books or hear good authors read their books, they are not the best places to kill a couple of hours. They don’t sell coffee and pastries is the optimum difference.
For that kind of bookstore, I prefer Borders. There’s something about Borders. Maybe it’s their large-ish (comparatively) science fiction section or the fact that no one ever goes there so it’s pretty quiet. Sure, the selection is limited to NYT bestsellers, an endless supply of chick lit with cotton candy pink or pale teal covers and the latest Twilight installment, but to be honest, I’m not there to buy books. I’m just looking for a place to kill some time and not be bothered. When I got stressed at work, Borders was my go-to place to decompress.
Now that I have a toddler, Barnes & Noble has overtaken Borders for hanging out. Why? Because the Barnes & Noble at Southpoint Mall has a train table in the children’s section. We can kill an hour there easily, and when you’re looking to amuse a bored baby, free access to a train table — at a place where you can also buy coffee and browse books — is a godsend. Now I’m reading that Barnes & Noble will offer free wifi. So you can amuse your kid, drink caffeinated beverages, browse cookbooks and surf all at the same place! Borders might as well turn out the lights and lock up.
Oh wait, maybe they already are.
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