I’m from Laredo, born and bred. and it’s much more than the physical bookstore being there, but what it means that a bookstore couldn’t stay open. I remember that exact bookstore from my high school days, its always ever been the only one in the city. A bookstore does matter. It says a lot about what is important to a community. The thing that more people around here do not understand is that South Texas is NOT North Texas. The Border is its own place, not Mexico, not the U.S. It has its own rules, its own ways, its own priorities, for good or bad. The economy of a border town is ruled by what goes in and what goes out and a bookstore closing down is a lot less important than an import place, a trucking company, a new housing community for the endless stream of people crossing the border to live there and take advantage of better schools and jobs. It’s a complicated issue that people here really have no right to judge, because the border is a different world.