Bookworms in Glasgow are spoilt for choice with places to visit for a browse thanks to the likes of Caledonia Books, Voltaire & Rousseau and Glasgow's first LGBTQIA+ bookshop Category Is Books.
That being said, there's plenty of us out there that, over a decade since it closed its doors for the final time, still lament the loss of Borders book store every time they walk down Buchanan Street.
Indeed some might go as far to say that the 'style mile' hasn't been the same since.
The former chain's flagship Scottish store, Borders was the country's biggest and best bookshop between 1998 and 2009 and one that really did play a central part in the life of the Glasgow public.
Be it as a meeting place to catch up with your pals in the town, the (best) place in the city to kill an hour or two or to sit and have a coffee (in the Costa and then Starbucks) and people watch, it served as a magnet for bookworms, students, stationary geeks, gamers, goths, elderly folk who read the papers from cover to cover and everyone in between.
It simply had something for everyone with its fantastic selection of books, magazines, foreign papers and gifts and concessions via as Paperchase and GAME within the stunning surroundings of the neo-classical building on Glasgow's main shopping street.
Originally designed by Archibald Elliot in 1827 for the Royal Bank, Borders occupied a prime spot on Royal Exchange Square, with the steps looking on to the GOMA packed day in day out (weather-permitting of course) with folk turning pages on their books.
So good in fact was it, that Borders made The Guardian's list of top bookstores on the planet back in 2008 - coming in at a solid number five on the list.
Over its years of operation, it played host to hundreds of celebs as they visited the city to sign copies of their new books or autobiographies.
Folk like Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, George Best, Billie Piper, Jackie Collins, Gazza, former comedy duo The Mighty Boosh and Monica Lewinsky - who proved so popular Glaswegians queued round the block to meet her and get their book signed.
The music inside might have been a bit crap, and the toilets a midden, and the wee Scouser teenage busker outside massacring 'Wonderwall' and 'The Drugs Don't Work' for what seemed like five years non-stop was a real pain in the backside.
But it could do little to take away from what was a real Glasgow institution, and one that, when Borders went into administration and announced the closure of the store - hit the city hard.
Although they did go out with a bang, thanks to a massive 90% closing down sale (including the fixtures) as it approached its final days in December of 2009 - bring out what seemed to be every last-minute Christmas shopper with a G postcode.
Folk will no doubt remember the garish 'Big Store Closing Everything Must Go' signs plastered everywhere both inside and out which just about hurt the eyes as much as the heart knowing we'd soon lose the place forever.
And so it was on December 22, 2009, the store shut its doors for the last time alongside 44 other stores across the nation, as it fell victim to the credit crunch and changing times.
And to be honest, as we noted earlier, Buchanan Street hasn't really been the same since.
