The first time in Barnes and Noble

I was never a reader growing up. If a comic strip had too many words, I didn’t read it. That changed when I went to college. I have a business degree, but I had to read a lot to keep up with other people and then in summer when other people went home, I worked part time at school and had free time in Providence. 

The first B&N I visited was in Freehold, NJ. I lived in Egg Harbor Township at the time and had no idea what a B&N was. If I wanted to read, I went to a small bookstore in Atlantic City or a strip mall in Hamilton square. I never thought I'd see a giant store solely devoted to books. 

At the corner of Route 33 and 9 was an empty field. At the time, it was another destruction of open space, something all too common here. They built this large building pretty quick and opened it in 1995 or so. There is a Starbucks attached to the B&N where I bought my second ever latte. To this day, I always get the -Grande Raspberry Latte. 

I took my beverage to the book section and sat in this big chair where I read magazines and relaxed.  It was the middle of the day and other people fell asleep in the surrounding chairs. 

I may have bought a bunch of books to take back home for later. A year later I moved to Central Jersey and went back to that B&N. They still had big chairs. I grabbed a bunch of magazines and relaxed. 

I found my new favorite store. It was also my hangout when I had no money.