Borders - the end

[Sxottlan]

Stopped by one of the two in my area this afternoon. It was incredibly busy. I picked up Cast No Shadow at a discount as well as Grindhouse and How the West was Won on blu-ray.

I'm ambivalent about it closing. It means two more large empty stores in my town. One of them is in a three store plaza and right next door had been a Circuit City. So one of the spaces had been empty for a long time before a Bed Bath & Beyond finally moved in. Now the other space will be empty.

In general, I just worry about bookstores going away totally. We do have some very nice Barnes & Noble in the area, but I like the variety. Many times B&N wouldn't have something, but Borders would. One of the three B&Ns in my area has only half a shelf devoted to Trek.

At the same time, the local Borders had become kind of seedy even before they filed for Chapter 11 back in February. Trying to unload their audio and/or visual media left lots of empty spaces and the bathrooms in particular were fairly nasty.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

At the same time, the local Borders had become kind of seedy even before they filed for Chapter 11 back in February. Trying to unload their audio and/or visual media left lots of empty spaces and the bathrooms in particular were fairly nasty.

These are the exact warning signs I'd been seeing for a long time. Dumping their audio selection was the biggest red flag. The book section has stayed stronger, but there was just no way this model was sustainable.

I think that Barnes & Noble is more likely to survive as an upper-end store. They got onto the market far more quickly with their eReader and developed a following. And the atmosphere in their stores (and the more "choice" food they serve) has actually got me as a regular patron of their cafe. I just feel more comfortable in a B & N than I ever did in a Borders.

 

[indianatrekker26]

I keep trying to call their customer care. I pre-ordered stephe king's new book, which won't be out until november. So I'm trying to figure out if I will still get it, or if i can use my money on another book.

 

[Sxottlan]

At the same time, the local Borders had become kind of seedy even before they filed for Chapter 11 back in February. Trying to unload their audio and/or visual media left lots of empty spaces and the bathrooms in particular were fairly nasty.

These are the exact warning signs I'd been seeing for a long time.

I was always wondering just what the hell employees were doing for their bathrooms to start looking like a truck stop.

 

[MagGu]

I'll miss Borders! I used to be able to spend hours in there, browsing, reading, drinking coffee. Awesome store. The closest one to me is an hour and a half away, so I haven't had a chance to take advantage of their going out of business sale. I hope I'll be able to before it's too late!

 

[FatherRob]

I was always wondering just what the hell employees were doing for their bathrooms to start looking like a truck stop.

Around here, it was the proliferation of toilet-top ads and the lack of cleanliness that did it, which, considering that few of the staff looked like they had bathed in recent weeks, seemed to fit OK.

Rob+

 

[Smitty]

Around here, it was the proliferation of toilet-top ads and the lack of cleanliness that did it, which, considering that few of the staff looked like they had bathed in recent weeks, seemed to fit OK.

Rob+

LOL, yeah I saw that in more than one.

 

[Sakrysta]

Well, mine was lovely. The staff were friendly, helpful, and seemed to love their jobs. I HATE that I'm losing my store.

 

[Broccoli]

I really wasn't surprised by this when I read the news. Borders has been going downhill over the past few years with a noticeable decrease in product. I'm sorry to hear that people will be out of work although the few people I know who worked for them hated their jobs.

 

[Maestro]

I'm enjoying the discounts.

 

[Skywalker]

I do feel bad, as I love bookstores, and I hate to see people lose their jobs because of corporate screw-ups. I don't have a Borders in town (we have a Barnes & Noble here, and I prefer them anyway), but there's one about an hour's drive from me, and it always seemed like they were busy. Too bad.

 

[TenLubak]

yeah the one in my local mall closed up, in the 90s they had a big sign that said STAR TRACK and yep it had star trek books. The sign really said Star Trek in the TNG font w/o the TNG under it. Ah 1994 when STAR TREK books 1-67 Starship Race, and TNG 1-2 here there be dragons all had she;f space in thier 9th printing etc.....\

Now im lucky if there are 3 st books at Barnes and Jamie Knobles.
what a shame. bookstore are dying friends dying

 

[DarKush]

It sucks that Borders is going out of business. I preferred them to B&N; Borders had more comfortable seating and I felt the books were organized more easily for me to find. Their music and movies were high as hell, but at least they had some really good coupons.

 

[Astraea]

I loved Borders (a lot more than B&N; B&N has nice leather journals, but I always thought the selections at local Borders stores were better.) The Borders near the University of Michigan's campus was my favorite. Also, a few years back, instead of doling them out in $5 or $10 per month, Borders used to let Borders Bucks accumulate throughout the year. I loved that - come the end of the year, I always had at least $100 free money for Christmas shopping or just to buy a lot of books for myself.

I figured they were in trouble a while ago, when they rolled out those Borders concept stores that had lots in the way of electronic displays and very little in actual good selection, but I'd hoped they'd find a way to keep at least some of their stores open. I don't like e-books, and I love to browse. Amazon is great when I know exactly what I want, (and I'm using B&N online more because of their free shipping for members with any purchase), but there's nothing like being able to go into a book store and walk around for an hour picking out random books I wouldn't have known about otherwise. I hope that B&N is able to survive, because I like being able to handle books, flip to random sections, and be able to compare them in general, and online bookstores just can't provide that experience. "Search inside the book" just isn't the same.

 

[JD]

^ At this point, I'm pretty sure the Nook is the only thing keeping B&N afloat.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

It sucks that Borders is going out of business. I preferred them to B&N; Borders had more comfortable seating and I felt the books were organized more easily for me to find. Their music and movies were high as hell, but at least they had some really good coupons.

Really? I always had the opposite experience. I always found the layout at B & N and the in-store atmosphere for staying there an extended time much easier to deal with (and better food). However, when it came to price, B & N is more expensive on movies and music.

As for Borders' coupons...I think they were SO high and applied to so much that that's part of what put them under, sadly.

 

[pookha]

really hated when our neighborhood borders went away. but while i hate all the people are losing their jobs going to the one that is left will be more like chance to be vulture book piggy then feeling regret each time i go in.

 

[rfmcdpei]

really hated when our neighborhood borders went away. but while i hate all the people are losing their jobs going to the one that is left will be more like chance to be vulture book piggy then feeling regret each time i go in.

Speaking as someone familiar with large chain bookstores, the big problem is that the bookstores' traditional sales product of books is losing market share hugely, worldwide. People really are opting either not to buy books or to buy e-books.

The difference between chains like Borders that are closing and chains like Barnes & Nobles that are surviving (and chains like Canada's Indigo which are thriving)? The stores and chains which survive and even grow are the ones which manage to find ways to sell book-related materials. I'm not only talking about developing a successful in-house e-book platform and web portal. I'm also talking about selling non-media book-related items like children's toys, somewhat book-related lifestyle items like stationary and gardening tools, and so on, to keep income stable. The sources of the income are shifting hugely, but that's all that one can hope for.

 

[Astraea]

really hated when our neighborhood borders went away. but while i hate all the people are losing their jobs going to the one that is left will be more like chance to be vulture book piggy then feeling regret each time i go in.

Speaking as someone familiar with large chain bookstores, the big problem is that the bookstores' traditional sales product of books is losing market share hugely, worldwide. People really are opting either not to buy books or to buy e-books.

The difference between chains like Borders that are closing and chains like Barnes & Nobles that are surviving (and chains like Canada's Indigo which are thriving)? The stores and chains which survive and even grow are the ones which manage to find ways to sell book-related materials. I'm not only talking about developing a successful in-house e-book platform and web portal. I'm also talking about selling non-media book-related items like children's toys, somewhat book-related lifestyle items like stationary and gardening tools, and so on, to keep income stable. The sources of the income are shifting hugely, but that's all that one can hope for.

But part of Borders's problem was that it tried to expand out into things like stationery and games, while the market for stationery is dropping faster than the market for books (probably; I don't have statistics on-hand, but the local paper mentioned this as one of the reasons Borders went under.) I mean, how many people hand-write letters on fancy paper any more, compared to just writing an e-mail or posting to Facebook? I mean, the only time I'll handwrite anything on nice stationery is when I'm writing thank-you letters to relatives after the holidays.

As for the current discounts, at least around here, they aren't much more than they would normally have been with a Borders Rewards card. (IIRC, the price for A Dance With Dragons was actually lower before the going-out-of-business sales started.)

 

[rfmcdpei]

really hated when our neighborhood borders went away. but while i hate all the people are losing their jobs going to the one that is left will be more like chance to be vulture book piggy then feeling regret each time i go in.

Speaking as someone familiar with large chain bookstores, the big problem is that the bookstores' traditional sales product of books is losing market share hugely, worldwide. People really are opting either not to buy books or to buy e-books.

The difference between chains like Borders that are closing and chains like Barnes & Nobles that are surviving (and chains like Canada's Indigo which are thriving)? The stores and chains which survive and even grow are the ones which manage to find ways to sell book-related materials. I'm not only talking about developing a successful in-house e-book platform and web portal. I'm also talking about selling non-media book-related items like children's toys, somewhat book-related lifestyle items like stationary and gardening tools, and so on, to keep income stable. The sources of the income are shifting hugely, but that's all that one can hope for.

But part of Borders's problem was that it tried to expand out into things like stationery and games, while the market for stationery is dropping faster than the market for books (probably; I don't have statistics on-hand, but the local paper mentioned this as one of the reasons Borders went under.)

I suspect that Borders didn't do nearly as good a job of it as Indigo. Based on what I know first-hand of the chain--the 2010 annual report works--Indigo's strategy of balancing book sale declines with non-book sales has worked well chain-wide in letting income grow slowly. Maybe there are also differences between the American and Canadian markets?