Editorial: Elliott Bay Bookstore promises great things for Seattle U, Capitol Hill

Much to the dismay of Capitol Hill book haters and Pioneer Square patrons, Elliott Bay Book Company is pulling out of its beloved 36-year location.

But the company isn't folding, only relocating to Capitol Hill, where in the last four years book stores have been dropping like flies.

It's a shame to see Elliott Bay leaving its historic perch in one of Seattle's most famed neighborhoods, but the Hill—and its community members—welcomes the store with open arms.

However bleak the economic outlook for any business in hard times may be, Elliott Bay already has a solid customer base in the bibliophiles that attend, live and work at Seattle University. Professors are joking about moving their offices to the store's new location, bookish students are fretting the possibility of starvation because of the store's soon to be had accessibility and in general it just seems as though the new Elliott Bay is going to dramatically impact Capitol Hill for the better.

Books aren't like CDs; there's something powerful and tactile about the book as a product, from the way they feel in your hand to the smell they exude in mass quantities on a shelf. Sure, we can buy Kindles and Nooks and Sony e-readers and download from the Internet, but places like Elliott Bay make a strong case for the continuing practice of buying books.

Elliott Bay is good for business on Capitol Hill, and it's great for culture. We should mourn the closing of the Pioneer Square location by reveling in the coming wonderland of Elliott Bay's newfound home on the hill. Elliott Bay will be the latest thing making the Hill the place to be for artists and intellectuals in Seattle, and set alongside Oddfellows Cafe, Molly Moon's and Everyday Music, it's going to turn Pine Street into the best stretch of pavement in Seattle.