I Stole From Barnes & Noble; It Felt Dirty, but I'm Glad I Did It

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- I miss several things about living in San Francisco, including the fog, the cold and the local bookstores.

I love my current residence, Santa Monica, as much, if not more than San Francisco. But I do wish our local scene was homier and more captivating, particularly when it comes to bookshops. Other than locally owned stores focused on somewhat narrow topics, Barnes & Noble (BKS) is the only one within walking distance of where I live.

Despite a supposed shift in strategy, Barnes & Noble is still soulless, cosmetically and otherwise. I'm not sure how long the current iteration can last.

I 'Showroomed.' And It Felt Good

I often get reading suggestions by eavesdropping in bookstores. Over the weekend at the Santa Monica Barnes & Noble, I heard a woman tell the person she was with how great the book StrengthsFinder 2.0 is. Their conversation led me to pick up the book and browse the jacket.

Before seeing the price, I decided to buy it. After deciding $24.95 was bit too steep, I was going to move on. But then it hit me: I'll look for it on Amazon.com (AMZN).

Given my interests, line of work and the frequency with which I use my smartphone to do all sorts of things, it's surprising that, up to then, I had never, in the moment, looked something up on my phone while in a store with the sole purpose of buying it. I have researched items that I had no intention of buying, but have never made a purchase decision, balked at the in-store price and gone mobile to buy.

For whatever reason, I felt strange doing this. I looked around as I did it to make sure nobody was watching. If a store employee or security guard discovered what I was doing, I sensed they would treat me like a shoplifter. To top it off, I was in a Barnes & Noble store, cheating on Barnes & Noble with Amazon.com, using, of all things, a free in-store Wi-Fi connection.

Is this a form of stealing in 2012?

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