The way it works at Borders is that you do have a contract and it is given to you by the regional manager. In this case, Fredericksburg is under the same regional manager as Richmond and some other stores in Virginia. You get the "free drinks" and an opportunity to play "for exposure". I occasionally play at Borders in Richmond and enjoy it, the people who work there are nice and friendly, it's usually a nice, attentive audience that enables me to experiment with some of my quieter material, and I sell CD's and promote my other upcoming performances. As I said before, the two times I played in Fredericksburg I didn't enjoy it and I won't play there again. I was rudely treated the first time but I did play a second time because I had a contract and decided to honor it. Although Borders is a chain I guess the individual management at each store is different and the "atmosphere" is different. The one in Richmond is very pleasant and they have a very good selection of music - at least I'd say it's the best selection around here. I also enjoy browsing the the books and magazines. Having said that I'm now debating if I'll play there again. They could at least offer the store credits, like they used to.