When I lived in DC, one of my favorite activities was bookstore browsing. On my lunch break I often walked up to the Borders from my office at 18th & H, and on weekends I visited the smallish Olsson's on 7th. When I moved out to Arlington I enjoyed stopping into the Olsson's there, even though it wasn't exactly close to my house. Still, on a long walk it made a nice spot for a break.
But Olsson's is going out of business. I can't say I'm surprised, because it never seemed all that well organized to me. My memory is of piles of books lying around waiting to be shelved, and little or no assistance available from clerks. That didn't really matter to me, being a pretty self-sufficient book shopper, but it just didn't bode well for the future.
Bookstores in general may soon be a thing of the past. I'm glad the small town where I now live as a few options, still, and I wish them well. I know a lot of book lovers in the DC area will miss Olsson's.
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