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Borders considering buying Barnes & Noble

Aragorn said:
Meh, it's important to have both Borders and Barnes & Noble. That way, I can decline to buy the $20 Blu-ray that sells for $40 at either store.
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Too true.

2 carriers of overpriced retail merchandise merging is what needs to happen for them to survive :rolleyes:

Thing is, with all the bookstores I remember, that were cheaper than Borders or B&N, are all gone. I can't see why these 2 have survived this long.

Amazon 3rd party sellers is the only way to go (I think).

Or any of the 3 online bookstores other than Amazon I've used (Abe, Alibris & Biblio), for new or used.
 
^ The actual books are fine, and I suppose being able to browse a store full of books has its charm over surfing the web even if price shopping could save you a few bucks here and there. It's the media departments and their overpriced music and movies that I don't understand. Then again, media stores located inside malls have the same extra high prices and they do okay.
 
I honestly never go to the media section of my local B&N, but I've generally been satisfied with their offerings when I do buy books.
 
I'm in my local B&N at least twice a month, so I don't mind paying the $25 for their membership. I end up saving way more than that by the time I have to renew. I never buy movies or music there, though. That's just dumb. :lol:

The closest Borders seems to have a better selection than does B&N, but it's an hour away, whereas B&N is right here in town.
 
od0_ital said:
As long as my Borders Rewards doesn't cost me money to have, I'm good.

Tried to get a similar thing at Barnes & Noble, and they wanted me to pay $25 up front, without savings on the first purchase with it. Screw that noise.
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Unless you were only buying gift cards or a nook, the membership always applies to that first purchase. I've sold hundreds of the damn things. In my experience, it is well worth it if you buy hardcovers, but for a bargain paperback shopper just get the free coupons.

From what I've seen of the proposed deal, B&N's organization would be taking over the shared assets which probably means keeping the B&N name. There might be changes to things like the membership program, but the B&N shopping experience is unlikely to change much.

I seriously doubt this will go through. The offer isn't very good and B&N isn't interested in spending years reorganizing at this point in their battle to survive. Borders is doing far worse than B&N right now too, so I wonder what it is they could bring to this newly combined company.

I will be very surprised if this goes anywhere.
 
Aragorn said:
^ The actual books are fine, and I suppose being able to browse a store full of books has its charm over surfing the web even if price shopping could save you a few bucks here and there. It's the media departments and their overpriced music and movies that I don't understand. Then again, media stores located inside malls have the same extra high prices and they do okay.
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Maybe 15 years ago was the last time I was in one of these stores (can't remember which).

Whatever book or books I wanted were nowhere to be found and IIRC, they were recent releases at that point.

That, plus the prices of what was there that I might have purchased, left a bad taste in my brain.

I think what keeps these "brick & mortar" places in business are the traditionalists that really do want to browse. I was like that many moons ago, when I did a lot of reading, even thought I was in the Sci-Fi book club.

As far as music, the internet has so much info on what's out there, it's easier to go that route for me.
 
We have both relatively close to us, but I never seem to make it to B&N, as it's in a ridiculously traffic-jammed mall set-up. This time of year, it takes you about 5-10 minutes to find a parking place and 12-25 minutes to leave the parking lot. I'm not kidding. Not worth it and to be honest, I find the selection at Borders much better (talking books, here: for the most part I almost never buy media from either store as they are usually as overpriced as the old Tower Records).

However, most media purchases are made either online or at Target or Costco, where you can usually save up to 50% versus Borders or B&N's prices.
 
And now there is Borders Rewards Plus for the cost of $20/year, not so different to B&N's $25/year!

I'm thinking this is one step closer to the merger happening.
 
I CAN'T STAND Borders stores but love Barnes and Noble. I REALLY hope this one doesn't come to pass.
 
Galileo7 said:
Aragorn said:
^ The actual books are fine, and I suppose being able to browse a store full of books has its charm ....
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I always like searching in a bookstore with the actual physical inspection of the books is enjoyable.
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I kinda felt that way 10 years ago when Amazon bought CDNow.

CDNow was friggin' awesome for buying music, Amazon sucked so much.

Today, with the 3rd party sellers thing, it's OK. I would certainly hate having to deal with Amazon itself each & every time.
 
Venardhi said:
I seriously doubt this will go through. The offer isn't very good and B&N isn't interested in spending years reorganizing at this point in their battle to survive. Borders is doing far worse than B&N right now too, so I wonder what it is they could bring to this newly combined company.

I will be very surprised if this goes anywhere.
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This. As one business writer said in an article, this would be a minnow swallowing the whale. For all of B&N's problems at the moment, being saddled with Borders would only make matters worse.
 
bigdaddy said:
Rankly screw them all. Online is where to buy books, and I rather go to a used bookstore.
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Love used bookstores. Something about the smell of old books. It's rare that I'll ask a book store to order a book for me, if theres a low print run or something. Beyond that.....I will look for the book and if it means going for years without, I will. I spent years looking for a copy of David Drakes "Old Nathan". Finally ran across a copy in a small town north of Dallas at a Half Price Books store. Went there on a pure whim that day....I was vacationing in Dallas that week. It was an awesome find and clicking a few boxes online doesn't even come close to the feeling of completing a hunt for me. But to each his own.

There's something about the hunt that I love. There's the adventure, the discovering of all kinds of cool places (i've found out of the way restaurants I never would've gone to otherwise) the road trips, etc. It's why I loved going to record stores and cd shops. To see what was there.
 
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