It seems not long ago that the struggle was to fight for independent bookstores to beat back evil chains.

Remember You’ve Got Mail! Tom Hanks and his dreaded Fox Books wiped out Meg Ryan and her little store.

Today?

Only the strongest private stores have survived. The real struggle is to keep chain bookstores up and running.

Borders? Adios.

Barnes and Noble? They plan to close 30 stores a year with no growth plans.

Here in Fort Collins, I hope Barnes and Noble holds on.

I love walking in, seeing what’s new, browsing, just letting myself go in the book world reading experience. And I do buy, carefully, as opposed to sitting and reading books, taking notes and then fleeing into the night.

The survival of print, another topic, is probably required for the brick and mortar bookstores to survive.

Here’s rooting for Barnes and Noble.

If I had said that ten years ago, I would have slapped me.