Jackson Jambalaya

Or, maybe the store was not selling enough books. Believe me, people did not stop reading because of the virus.

COVID just finished off what the Internet, audiobooks and e-books started.

I'm sure COVID-19 didn't help but unfortunately the giant book store appears to be on its way out. Specifically this location had been going down for the past few years. Their selection was not very good and the store should have moved a few years ago.

Lulu's and Fuddruckers haven't reopened either. They might be on the chopping block as both chains are closing multiple location around the USA

Used to love going to Million and sitting there in the lounge chairs. It had become a junk pit over the years. Dirty and torn carpet. Nasty smelling. Sad to see it go. Saw where Robert St. John is shutting his Purple Parrot Restaurant in Hattiesburg after 30 plus years. Says he may try something else in its place.

It's a stand alone bookstore. Jackson might support ONE of those but it must be in the perfect location...and this one ain't.

Books? You're kidding.

Sad to see another closure but I am shocked this place was still open to begin with. People who care about physical bookstores have one of the best to be found anywhere right across the street at Lemuria, and everyone else has Amazon.

Face it folks, this place was like a "dirt cheap" fire sale type store. You needed a mask in there even before covid ..

The last three times I wanted a book I tried every metro bookstore but none of them carried the books. They were even banned on Amazon. Funny thing is that Barnes and Nobles dot com had them though!

BAM became a pain to just even walk through the store. The aisles, especially near the front, required you to play an unwanted game of twister. You had to negotiate displays of trinkets and junk just to get to the cards, which was a decent selection. Service was ok but yeah, the place was not the cleanest although some of that is due to age.

I do miss the old B&N. Much better layout than the current one and the late hours were cool.

Lemuria used to whine incessantly in the newspaper about BAM but it appears it will have the last laugh. Borders, BAM, B&N. Now only B&N remains. We have what, all of two bookstores in the metro area: Lemuria and B&N.

Long since time to turn the page on BAM. Two bookstores and rapidly deteriorating/closing libraries- Jackson is becoming a vortex of education and intelligence. Millsaps is in big trouble too. They are desperately seeking funding.

I was surprised BAM didn't relocate to Dogwood Festival after Borders folded. A missed opportunity in my opinion. No guarantees that it would have survived long-term but it would have been more profitable outside of Jackson.

Resubmitted this comment since I wrote B&N by mistake.

Generally speaking the USA had for some time far to much retail in all sectors. The bleeding has been accruing for several years at a much slower pace. Just look back before Covid-19 at all the announced closures. We have around the country just to much stuff in to many places.

Not only Mom & Pop stores, complete malls and big box stores. The Amazon shift played a big part but other factors including unskilled owners of family stores. University's that have retail business schools have fewer and fewer students because the writing is on the wall. Not to say all retail is gone but only the strong survive.

New emerging retail that's starting to show its teeth is reflecting back to Wal*Mart, Amazon and big box stores. The purchase and resale of returns, overstocks,slow sellers and shelf pulls is a growing business.
You buy cases,pallets and truckloads from a broker throw out the damaged and trash and resell at a profit the good stuff. It's all over YouTube.

Smart guys and gals are buying multiple truckloads and putting items on tables for resale. The open on Friday cash only everything $5 Saturday cash $4 Sunday cash $2 People line up to get a shot at this stuff. By buying truckloads the number of items divided by the low cost equals very high profits almost no overhead. Just one example of new retail.

Lemuria is a much better store. Johnny Evans and his crew do a great job.

People who enjoy ready generally have higher IQs, vivid imaginations, and an inner voice. They have always been a smaller population that dwindles every year.

Most of the population is a movie and TV crowd.

Robert St. John is a talented columnist on top of restaurateur and ever since I dropped the Ledger, I subscribe to his email blast of his weekly articles. Its usually quite entertaining.

He has been very blunt about the effects of COVID on the restaurant business, but I have not heard anything about Purple Parrot closing. Would be a huge loss for Hattiesburg. No restaurant closing would surprise me, but he has to have more staying power than so many of the other local places. Sooo very thankful I don't own a restaurant right now. Or a bookstore.

Now, we see why Chokwe supports UBI programs. Pretty soon, there won't be any jobs left in Utopia.

I hate to hear Purple Parrot is closing. I didn't get to Hattiesburg much, but I ate there just about every time. Loved their molasses rolls, but they didn't have any the last couple of times I went.

Hope Robert St. John does something else at that location and doesn't just turn it into an extension of the Crescent City Grill. It was renovated not all that long ago.

Gone are the days of sneaking a peek in B Dalton or Waldenbooks. The world is in our palm by comparison. We're lucky we can get our kids interested in paper books. Mine B-lines it to the book section every trip to Sam's club and asks to be taken to the library.

Last time I went in BAM, a couple of years ago, I was accosted by some homeless bum who tried to extort some money from me. When I wouldn't cough any up, he became irate and proceeded to make some unjust comments about my poor sainted mother.

I then had to explain to him how short his life expectancy had become.

Needless to say, that experience salivated me for life for BAM.

I haven't bought more than a dozen paper books since I got my first Kindle e-ink reader in 2011. It is sad, but not surprising, to see the number of bookstores shrinking.

I do have all of Robert St. John and Wyatt Waters' books though. Things like that deserve a place on the bookshelf.

Lemuria is in a pretty building, surrounded by a passable amount of landscaping. It's not a dispiriting and demeaning experience to go there. 'BAM', on the other hand, was in a very ugly building, with not a bush or tree or potted plant in sight. I think there are a few "planting islands" at the fringe of that strip center. But they're not much. You got that "What is wrong with me, going into a place like this?!" feeling, just shopping there. There's a bare-bones storefront, overlooking an unrelieved asphalt ocean, next to a big, ugly drainage ditch and a chainlink fence, and the ugly ass-end of a Wendy's.

Brick & Mortar stores offer plenty, if they offer pleasant RETAIL EXPERIENCES. There's plenty of value in having SOMEWHERE TO GO, if it's somewhere you'd WANT to go.

Shopping in Madison, where even the WalMart has a parking lot more green and park-like than most of the Jackson Metro's actual parks, MAKES US FEEL GOOD. It's an outing... Shopping Grandview is like a quick trip to Italy (but with parking, and without pickpockets). BAM's landlord could have stepped-up their game, to compete, aesthetically. But they didn't.

@10:32
What kind of books were you searching for that would be banned on Amazon? And do you have a source? I have never heard of books being banned in the USA.

I remember when Books A Million used to put their adult magazines on the shelf with the other magazines. They were covered in cellophane and all you could see was the title. After a lot of complaints they put them behind the counter.

Hate to hear this, but yes, it had really gone down. I frequent Barnes. It is more convenient for me, and I enjoy spending time in the store and having coffee. They almost always have what I am looking for and are happy to order if they don't. I also very much appreciate Lemuria.

Went at lunch. Only a 20% discount for now. Will come back in a week or two.

E-books will kill all the bookstores!
I have a kindle with 300 books on it.
I've gotten half of my books on BookBub.com for $ 1.99, Wow!
So, how can retail store survive?
Also, a used bookstore store is on Lakeland, otherwise know as Hwy 25 just pass dogwood (were Rankin County Tax collector office) is called Impression book.
Also, you heard it here 1st. GOODWILL sells hardback books for $ .50 & paper books for $.25. Yeah. You can thank this blogger later.

"Shopping Grandview is like a quick trip to Italy". I suppose you can imagine it is like that if you are somebody who has never ventured outside of Mississippi. Jeez. What a fairyland you live in in your head.

Lemuria charges full price.

Gonna miss my discounted books at BAM.

They were once known as Bookland. Did Jackson have one of those?

@1:52. Not the original poster but LOTS of books Amazon won’t carry. Most of them cover censorship and also tell the truth about our “best friends and allies” in the Middle East

@3:19 you can get ebooks free from the libary.

The Chinese virus did not kill Books a Million.

That company had been on a long path of suicide for years.

I keep reading 1:11's post for a hint of sarcasm or "tongue in cheek" but I can't find it. I suppose he really feels like he's visiting Italy while at a strip shopping center in Madison. Plus one for Mayor Mary's quest to trick rednecks into upgrading their tastes.

Why argue otherwise? If he's content, let him be content. I'm sure he enjoys the fine french cheeses he gets on his burger at Backyard Burgers".

Funny thing I have seen the Jackson mayor shopping at B&N in Ridgeland.

@5:25: Not male. Not white (thus not Redneck). Strictly Keto/OMAD (avoid restaurants, if possible, and can fast for days). Long gone from Mississippi.

But truly, if you got around more, you'd realize just how pretty Madison is - particularly considering the region's demographics.

1:11 Shopping in Ridgeland makes me feel really, really good - everyone should try it. Wally World in Maryville hasn’t give the me the park experience yet, maybe my mask isn’t tight enough.

I actually loved that Books A Million, but mainly because the kids section was great. They had a lot of kids books at good prices, albeit with little to no organization. They also had toys and games which was great to pop into for a last minute kids birthday gift. That said, the book selection for everyone else had dwindled over the years and was replaced by trinkets and trash.

I never understood how they remained in business BEFORE Covid. They certainly weren’t staying in business on me stopping in and buying a $12 kids book.

@7:46 The original quote: "...a parking lot more green and park-like than most of the Jackson Metro's actual parks." isn't really describing Tivoli Gardens. It's not setting the bar particularly high. It does not take a lot, for an outdoor space to be "more park-like", than the majority of "parks" between Clinton and Brandon, and between Terry and Canton. The above quote was not comparing WalMart's parking lot with Gramercy Park in Manhattan, or with Forsyth Park in Savannah - but just with the pitiful "parks" in the Jackson "Metroplex".

Maybe you have mobility limitations, and have to park right next to the entrance? Maybe you don't care about your car getting dented-up, and just park close to the doors, for convenience, and so haven't noticed the nice perimeter areas? The underplantings could use some replenishing, but there are some impressive islands and edges of greenery at that WalMart. Those beautiful stands of trees, were PLANTED.

On the other hand, most of the "parks" in the Jackson Metro, are not really recognizable as parks. They're managed by guys who have no concept of nature or beauty (or concept of ANYTHING, really). It's not like they're Landscape Architects or Landscape Designers or Master Gardeners or former Garden Club presidents or Junior League Sustainers. They're just guys who somehow ended up with those jobs. Under them, are a bunch of disinterested guys with room temperature IQs, who have even LESS appreciation for nature or beauty (or anything you can't eat out of a takeout box, or sit in a recliner and watch).

They're just there to do whatever minimum will get them their paychecks. They're the reason why Smith Park's water features "just got filled-up with trash" (too much trouble to pick up, ya know...), and the reason why it's impossible (even if somebody wanted to) to have anything but ugly, sweltering stretches of mown grass (with the occasional border zones of dead, herbicided weeds). Trees? Too much trouble to mow around. Shrubbery? Now you're talkin' CRAZY.

I can remember when there was a bookstore in the Metro...

They have been marketing the space for lease since the beginning of the year prior to Covid.

Fair warning, the salespeople remaining at BAM have gotten in the habit of ringing up some purchases twice (perhaps due to the high volume they are now dealing with). Customers won’t catch the extra charges until they are handed the receipt after payment. If the customer happens to notice, the remaining manager, Alex, explains that the store can no longer do returns, so the customer cannot get their money back.