Borders UK gone bust

[BrotherBenny]

In the news, Borders UK (including Books Etc), the spin-off company and formerly part of the the Borders Group (US) which still holds some part of the company, is in administration with 1,150 jobs at risk.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article6934219.ece

My local Borders store has 20-50% everything in store and is likely to up this as the closing down becomes imminent.

Now's the time to buy people!!!

 

[cultcross]

Bloody hell, didn't see that coming. A real shame, actually. Borders seems to be the only bookstore willing to stock large amounts of stuff that isn't 'hot off the press', obscure martial arts books etc. Of course that might be the problem

 

[John Clark]

I'll have to go and check out our local one. I don't get there often, but it would be a shame if it went.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

There isn't one here, closest one is in York, about 40 miles away.
There are 2(4) book shops in town, one is Waterstone, the other Brown's Books (WH Smiths and The Works too, if they count). And I don't like shopping at any of them, and it isn't just the price. But it really is a shame dedicated book shops are disappearing.

I kinda feel like I should support Brown's Books because it's local and independent, but they don't usually have a lot I like, and the staff are usually unhelpful unless you know exactly what you want.

 

[BrotherBenny]

Well, with Borders down the pan, the only high street book store left is Waterstones since they bought out Ottakars a few years ago and Books Etc is part of Borders. W H Smith, Blackwells, Foyles, Owl and the independents are all that's left, and the supermarkets.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^You forget that excellent quality bookshop chain The Works.

 

[BrotherBenny]

^You forget that excellent quality bookshop chain The Works.

You have me there, but they're not that well known and don't have a huge number of stores. Not in London and surrounding area.

 

[Captain Shaw]

I think of the works more of a discount chain which is good for certain things but not so good for other things.
This thread has reminded me i wanted to order love on the dole but as i am soon to be on the dole i will have to get it second hand off amazon.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Looks like the have more shops than Borders did.
But I was kidding really, they're a discount book shop not a quality one.

 

[Kirks_Flying_Wig]

Bloody hell, didn't see that coming. A real shame, actually. Borders seems to be the only bookstore willing to stock large amounts of stuff that isn't 'hot off the press', obscure martial arts books etc. Of course that might be the problem

Did you really not see it coming? They've been sliding around like a dog with impacted anal glands for the last several months!

^You forget that excellent quality bookshop chain The Works.

My local Works has one solitary table of "books" (John Barrowman's autobiog, that Gavin & Stacy book and one of Charley Boorman's "Oh my God it's so fantastic!!" travelogues) and the rest is all colouring books, Latvian board games and lampshades (oh, why did they give up being Booksale?). If you want a brilliant seconds bookshop that doesn't sell tat, seek out your nearest Bookends. I found a whole trove of 90s Trek books in there once!

 

[Captain Shaw]

Bloody hell, didn't see that coming. A real shame, actually. Borders seems to be the only bookstore willing to stock large amounts of stuff that isn't 'hot off the press', obscure martial arts books etc. Of course that might be the problem

Did you really not see it coming? They've been sliding around like a dog with impacted anal glands for the last several months!

^You forget that excellent quality bookshop chain The Works.

My local Works has one solitary table of "books" (John Barrowman's autobiog, that Gavin & Stacy book and one of Charley Boorman's "Oh my God it's so fantastic!!" travelogues) and the rest is all colouring books, Latvian board games and lampshades (oh, why did they give up being Booksale?). If you want a brilliant seconds bookshop that doesn't sell tat, seek out your nearest Bookends. I found a whole trove of 90s Trek books in there once!

My works has the top gear model set and a nice selection of umbrellas

 

[Bob The Skutter]

There's loads of books in the local Works, most of it tat, but last time I was in there there was a few Star Trek books, the complete Chronicles of Narnia, a couple of Iain M Banks books and Lord of The Rings, lots of children's books.

I've never heard of Bookends, from what I can see from Google there is only 1 of them.

 

[Kirks_Flying_Wig]

There's loads of books in the local Works, most of it tat, but last time I was in there there was a few Star Trek books, the complete Chronicles of Narnia, a couple of Iain M Banks books and Lord of The Rings, lots of children's books.

I've never heard of Bookends, from what I can see from Google there is only 1 of them.

http://www.bookends.uk.com/, http://www.bookends.uk.com/retail_bookshops.htm

I'm quite sure the one on Charing Cross Road has closed down though. They often have large marquees at festivals and such like.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Ah, this is the site I found http://www.bookendsonline.co.uk/ Guess it's a different place.
There isn't one anywhere near me... There used to be a fantastic discount book shop in town, had a lot of sci-fi and tie in books usually for under £3, but it shut down when The Works opened.

 

[Captain Shaw]

Sometimes when i go into Nottingham there is a book shop on a short lease that you can go thought that have a lot of stuff the other shops could not shift.
A lot of tat but if you like going though books shops you can find some good stuff.

 

[cultcross]

Bloody hell, didn't see that coming. A real shame, actually. Borders seems to be the only bookstore willing to stock large amounts of stuff that isn't 'hot off the press', obscure martial arts books etc. Of course that might be the problem

Did you really not see it coming? They've been sliding around like a dog with impacted anal glands for the last several months!

I have an unnerving ability to not see things coming

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Last month I went into Borders to see if they had a copy of "The Men Who Stare at Goats" by Jon Ronson.

Assistant: "Never heard of it."

Me: "Well, is it on your stock list?"

Assistant: <tappety-tap> "Yes, we should have seven copies on the shelves."

Me: "In which section?"

Assistant: "Travel, it's a travel book."

Me: "Ok..."

Needless to say, no copies of the book were to be found in the Travel section or any other section. Waterstones had copies on display.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

That'd be about right - Cardiff only got a Borders this year. Coming here is usually the sign of the death knell coming. Happens all the time.

Yet for all Borders' flashiness, and wider range than either Cardiff or Newport Waterstones, I've never bought anything in there. Not a single thing. I either use Amazon or Waterstones. The latter invariably have better offers on and have new releases in sooner and the former is obviously much cheaper. I also like to buy my books from a book shop, not a coffeehouse that sells DVDs at twice the RRP.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

^That sounds like Waterstones to me. Costa upstairs, yep, DVDs, games and shite downstairs, yep. 3 for 2 offers with only 1 or 2 good books in... Rubbish on the first shelves you see...
I almost always get books from Amazon, get them the day of release, cheap, and no useless staff.

 

[StolenThunder]

I popped in this lunchtime. It's mayhem in there and most of the good stuff is either gone, or just has 20% knocked off.

Still - picked up a paediatrics book half price so I was happy.