The Tatnuck Bookseller and Air America

One of my favorite places just closed because the owners said they weren't making any (or enough) money.

The Tatnuck Bookseller has closed its doors (well technically they have a second location and the main location will still be having a 40% off sale this weekend but you get my point). I used to love going to the Tatnuck Bookseller. Most days I'd walk (3 miles round trip from my house), stop in, read and drink a coffee or have a beer. Some days I'd drive down and do some work in their cafe on my laptop. They had a self-serve bottomless cup of coffee, free wifi and Wachusett Country Ale on tap. It was quite a place.

Now its gone. Just like that.

For some strange reason - the closing of Tatnuck Bookseller has made me think about Air America Radio. How is it that Air America is still in "business" (I put business in scare quotes because an actual business is supposed to have a plan and make money)? The Tatnuck Bookseller's parking lot was always full and yet they have closed their doors. Air America has no customers or as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog puts it, "I own a conch shell with more listeners." Yet Air America is still on the air and still supposedly a viable organization. How can this be?

My guess is that someday soon Air America Radio will close its doors just like the Tatnuck Bookseller just did. There will be three main differences between Air America and Tatnuck Bookseller when that day comes:

1. Air America will not hold a 40% off Going Out of Business Sale
2. Nobody at Tatnuck Bookseller will have the theft of tens of thousands of dollars from a local charity on their conscience
3. People are actually saddened by the lost of Tatnuck Bookseller