I hear you about bookstores. Especially in the past year, my wife has been in India (with our 1.5 year old) with her parents for about 6 months and that gave me lots of time to spend at B&N and Borders (plus the library).

And then I went to India for two weeks. I went to a bookstore there (supposedly a top of the line one) and there was not a single chair/table where one can sit and read. I found that incredible.