Sad Single People

BBC names Austin the world's best city for dating and includes really unhelpful advice

Austin: a place for sad single people to find true love.

Courtesy photo

Austin is no stranger to lists, but this one has us shaking our heads. Using data from the Travel Channel, Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler, BBC has named the five best cities in the world for dating — and Austin is one of them.

Joining Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Copenhagen, and Montreal, Austin is praised as the perfect town for sad singles to find love. But then it gets weird. Instead of noting, say, our younger population, reputation as a creative and technology hub or our penchant for partying like rockstars, BBC has some truly bizarre reasons for naming Austin one of the world's best cities for dating.

First, BBC notes that moving to Austin can cause "culture shock" because everyone is too polite. Once you get over the shock of having to treat people with respect, the article suggests that single people "should consider living in the neighbourhoods of Downtown, South Congress or Clarksville." The article tells sad single people that they should consider living in a condominium where they will presumably meet other sad single people at the pool or by the grill.

BBC doesn't stop with unhelpful suggestions on how to meet people; it also helps readers plan a date. According to the article, Lambert's Downtown Barbecue is one of the "hottest dating spots," and BBC suggests catching live music in the 2nd Street District. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, BBC makes the novel suggestion of watching the bats under the Congress Avenue bridge.

That being said, there is one piece of good advice in the article (provided, no less, by Chandler Jones, a sales coordinator at the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau). "There’s a saying here: if you don’t like the scene, move on to the next bar until you do."

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Final Chapter

Bookstore closing final chapter 2 years after move from South Congress

southcongressbooks.com

The store survived the move for a while, but it wasn't sustainable.

While they say all good stories must come to an end, Austinites never want that to be true of independent local businesses—especially this time of year. After relocating to Kerbey Lane in 2022, South Congress Books announced it would be closing its doors for good in the coming weeks.

The store announced the closure in an Instagram post on Friday, December 6:

“On the heels of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday, we bring you We Surrender December,” the post reads. “After two years of valiantly trying to survive (if not thrive) in our new location, we’ve made the hard decision not to renew our lease.”

The post goes on to thank customers for their business over the years, but shares that keeping the shop open beyond the current year is not “sustainable or prudent.”

The store first opened its doors on South Congress thirteen years ago, back before that particular avenue became home to international brands like Nike and Hermes. Over the years, rising rent on the once-quirky street has squeezed out unique local businesses like Lucy in Disguise in favor of chain stores.

As such, it was no major surprise when, in 2022, the small bookstore announced it was moving north of downtown. Loyal customers hoped that neighbors like the original Kerbey Lane Cafe would bring in a steady stream of foot traffic, but that has apparently not been the case.

Commenters on the farewell post all grieved the news, sharing that the shop would be missed.

In a small bit of silver lining, the shop did announce that it will maintain a presence on Abebooks.com (as Tornbooks) and Ebay (as South Congress Books). Austinites can also browse a special selection of the shop; books at Uncommon Objects (1602 Fortview Road) in South Austin and Antiques of Oakmont (1803-A W. 35th Street), just around the corner from the current location.

In the meantime, the Kerbey Lane store is offering a ten percent discount through December 24 and then 20 percent off between December 26 and January 5, 2025.

books closings