JFG Nation, remember bookstores? I do. I may be a big nerd but some of my favorite memories were going to the local mall with my mom, agreeing on a place to meet, and then going to the book stores in the mall to hide in a corner and read Foxtrot or Calvin & Hobbes compilations. I was a relatively good kid, so I could go hours sitting in a Waldenbooks reading The Great Brain series, or standing in a B. Dalton bookstore paging through a Beckett price guide.

Then I went to college and those smaller book chains were consumed by Borders and Barnes & Noble. The bookstore embraced the “sit anywhere and read” experience, adding coffee shops and couches. But books were expensive – as more and more of my money went towards going out and iTunes, less and less cash went toward hardcovers. Libraries became my friend, as I slowly became an old man. Of course Amazon and the Kindle began killing off Borders and Barnes & Noble one by one. The bookstore was DONESKY.

So imagine my surprise when I saw this one my FB friend Lara’s page:

Coming soon: a brick and mortar Amazon Book store????? WHAT.

A quick Google search revealed it was true! Amazon is opening three physical stores in Seattle, San Diego, and Portland. Another is planned for Chicago. The tag lines: “As a physical extension of Amazon.com, Amazon books integrates the benefits of offline and online shopping to help you find the books and device you love…We place books face-out on the shelves, so each can communicate its own essence.” WTF.

I get it, but it won’t stop me from mocking it. The whole point of Amazon is no overhead and on-demand-ability…. I don’t have to do anything or go anywhere to read a book. I understand the cultivated experience but could you imagine Blue Apron opening up grocery stores, with ingredients grouped by recipe? Or Netflix opening up movie theaters? …..wait, have I just predicted Blue Apron and Netflix’s next projects?

I welcome the return of bookstores, I just never thought I’d see it happen. I tend to think society is going in one direction and you can’t go backwards, and bookstores were part of it. I eagerly await the return of Sam Goody and Virgin Record stores.

What do you think, JFG Nation? Let me know in the comments below.

Today’s junk food: Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Cheerios!!

Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Cheerios are the first new pumpkin spice product I’ve tried this season. Yes, the pumpkin spice retreads are out there – Oreos, POPTARTS, etc… But this year pumpkin spice cereals are all the rage. I like cereal. Let’s munch.

I had to get the family size box of these Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Cheerios, because that’s all that was on the shelves. This better be good. I like the box design though… Like the skin of a Pumpkin? Very visually appealing.

Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Cheerios contain pumpkin purée, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove. Bam.

Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Cheerios contain 8g or sugar per serving, which is average.

I opened the box and sniffed – I definitely smelled nutmeg and cinnamon.

Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Cheerios looked great in a bowl. Slight orange sheen. This was without milk.

I munched a handful of these Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Cheerios and HELLO CLOVE. Very strong spice taste – in order of flavors I got clove, nutmeg, cinnamon. Great spice profile on top of the standard Cheerio flavor. There was a bit of sweetness, but no real overt pumpkin flavor, which was interesting. Still I liked the subtlety of these – tasted like Cheerios dusted in pumpkin spices.

I added some milk to these Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Cheerios and that brought out the pumpkin flavor a bit. These tasted really good – well balanced, not super sweet, I actually still felt decently healthy eating this for breakfast.

I wouldn’t consider these Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Cheerios a “sugary” cereal at all. I tend to think of Honey Nut Cheerios as borderline; I didn’t feel that way with these. The thin actual pumpkin flavor kept these actually “pumpkin spiced” rather than pumpkin pie flavored.

Limited Edition Pumpkin Spice Cheerios also turned my milk a slight orange tinge. So that’s good.

All in all big big thumbs up. A balanced cereal for the pumpkin SPICE lover. I could eat a punch bowl of this stuff with a big wooden spoon.

Purchased at: Walmart, Germantown, MD

Cost: $3.98

Sincerely,

The JFG