White Whale said it had settled on lease terms and McCaffery had “explicitly” confirmed it was not negotiating with another store. Then, “radio silence.” White Whale followed up with the developer after a month, and then again three weeks later. Two weeks later, the store learned McCaffery was moving forward with another bookstore. “When we spoke in person McCaffery’s leasing manager told us that, actually, the other store had had a draft of a lease at The Terminal all along. They had just ‘come back to the table’ to finish up in Feb. It certainly appears as if White Whale was merely a bargaining tool,” the thread continues. “It is not our intention to go after another bookstore. Pittsburgh is a great literary city full of prolific and eclectic readers! But McCaffery’s assertion that they are focused on community is purely lip-service.”