1. The newly unemployed have less money to spend locally, which will logically affect other businesses.  I doubt that those left unemployed by such store closings will breeze into new jobs in the current economy.  While there are relatively few people left unemployed in one area by such a closing, the result is still a negative when it comes to purchasing power.

2. Stores near the newly-closed businesses will not benefit from walk-in shoppers like they used to.  I often doubled up a trip with Borders with a visit to a store in the same block.  Will I make as many trips to that store now?  I doubt it.  

3. Empty buildings (and I predict these large stores will be empty for some time) are eyesores.  They drive away business rather than attracting it (to nearby stores).

I realize we now live in a world in which convenience is a factor in purchasing and time is a commodity.  However, I believe we need to continually consider the effects our purchasing decisions make on our local economies.  People who grew up in Michigan felt the pinch when the foreign automobile market boomed, and now (decades later) Michigan is limping along financially. It seems the general public didn’t transfer that lesson to other purchasing decisions.  We are now not just cannibalizing local economies to buy from China and Japan; now we have a plethora of places outside of our hometowns to purchase lower-priced goods.  Every time you buy NON-locally, you are making a financial choice to support someone else’s community over your own.  There is a point where convenience is outweighed by the (collective) negative impact of shopping non-locally.

I met plenty of Mercantile Exchange professionals who gave me financial advice as I browse financial books, plenty of software programming peers as I browse web/programming books and plenty of dates reading fiction literature that was similiar to my interests. I owe my web/programming/mobile career to being able to run to the bookstore and browse books looking for a solution over the years.

Today, it look like people will be downloading content to their eReader without the physical social connection, no physical stranger nearby who is a field expert who can really recommend the best books to get in depth information and no connection except text reviews and blind faith on what type of content to purchase.

This is really a sad day in America and we are losing our real world social connection to content. Oh, well – at least they still have bookstores in Shibuya, Tokyo that I can take an 11 hour flight and go visit.