This letter is mainly to say how much of an impact you have had on my life. I can honestly say that you are my favorite store ever, my home away from home… I can still remember the time when I was a high school freshman and I came to your store within the mini store outlet at Smith Haven Mall, buying my very own copies of the books that I was reading for my English class that year. Even then, those weren't the very first books I got from you! Just a year before, when my eighth grade English teacher personally recommended to me an array of books that she felt that I would enjoy reading pleasurably outside of class, you were the one that I turned to, and you delivered (on your word, in this case). To this day, I'm not sure if this was the first time, but it was certainly one of the first…

There have been countless times when after walking into any one of your stores, I was instantly mesmerized by all the books that you have put out for me to look at, whether if they were books I have read, heard of, or otherwise. I know that I could have potentially spent hours browsing through the aisles, my favorites being the ones designated for books of fiction/literature, teen/young adult, and science fiction/fantasy. Sometimes though, I would take a gander at which books are out on the "B&N Classics" display to see which ones I have heard of and might consider buying to eventually read in my later adult years and also at the collections of Shakespeare plays and poetry books stacked just right outside your DVD section. I wouldn't even mind in the slightest when I would have a hankering for a book (or number of books) designed for younger kids, and I would just go through the children's section of your store as if it was no big deal. Usually, I would leave your store with one of your plastic bags, since I would forget mine at home, loaded heavily with your books. There have been only a few times I can count on one hand when I would be in and out of your store within five minutes and/or leave empty-handed. To me, with no stack of books to carry, it just doesn't feel right…

The only thing that I don't like when it comes to your store is your choice in coffee: Starbucks. I would never hold anything against you on that matter. I just don't prefer Starbucks to be the kind of place from which I would see myself buying myself a hot beverage while reading a newly purchased book from your shelves just several yards away. On the bright side though, you do have good taste in snacks stocked in display cases as well as delicious hot chocolate: the only few things for which I can rely on Starbucks…

I know that I started reading for pleasure on my own well before I came to you, but you gave me books that I have grown to love over the years, varying from fiction to young adult to science fiction and fantasy, and that I have been free to read as well as keep for myself, and as a true bookworm, I cannot tell you enough how much that has meant to me. After all this time, no matter how many times that this needs to be said, thank you for being there for me as my safe haven.