Borders - the end

[CaptainDonovin]

Just read that the remaining 399 Borders stores well close by fall leaving B&N as the only large chain bookstore in the US. This sucks. Even though I have been known to complain about the joke of a Trek selection I do enjoy going to the bookstores & leaving with a gem of a book I found in the bargain areas.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

I used to work for Borders. I used to work for Tower Records. This, like that, saddens me.

 

[DorkBoy [TM]]

This is extremely sad. I like our neighborhood Borders. I buy all my Trek books there.

 

[OverlordSpock]

A sad day indeed. I'm in my local Borders usually once a week. I don't always buy something, but I do more frequently than not.

The closest Barnes and Noble is farther than I want to drive and is way out of my way. I guess more Amazon for me, but there's nothing like browsing a bookstore just to see what you'll find.

 

[CaptainDonovin]

I've been shopping Borders/Waldenbooks for almost 20 years, got all of the Star Wars novels (forgive me ) from Heir To The Empire to the last series there so for me its an end of an era.

 

[MHT1138]

Oh my goodness, not only have been a Waldenbooks/Borders customer all my life. I have worked there off and on seasonally and parttime from 1999 until this last April when my store closed. This is devastating!

 

[FatherRob]

I used to spend hours in the Trek section and the magazine section (looking at Trek magazines) of my local Waldenbooks. It went out of the mall in the town I grew up in back in 2005. I now tend to do more bookstoring at Half Price Books for older sci-fi books than I do new stuff. (About the only releases I buy new are Honor Harrington books!)

Someone mentioned Tower Records... I was never really exposed to that brand, but it reminds me of Suncoast and Musicland. Between the two of them, I built my video and, later, DVD collection (well, between them and Half Price). I was crushed when Suncoast tanked its way into BestBuy, followed closely by Musicland. (Of course, at the time, there wasn't a BestBuy near me. Now, I live a 10 minute drive from one.)

Rob+

 

[JD]

Damn, this makes me really sad. Up until I got my Nook I did most of my book shopping at Borders.

 

[fleetcaptain]

Not just B&N but also Books a Million too. Also the used book stores we have around my area is where I usually go to get the older ones no longer in print. Everything else I try to get online if I can find in the stores.

 

[RandyS]

Ten years ago, this news would have REALLY upset me, but now since I no longer drive, and can't get to Borders anyway, I've been using Amazon for my book needs. Plus, they have rare books that you can't find at Borders, or Barnes & Noble.

Still, it's sad to see a bookstore go out of business.

 

[Reanok]

I think this is really too bad I really liked the Borders book store they carried StarTrek books that my local bookstores didn't carry. Alot of books I found there i couldn't find anywhere else.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I'm not all that sad to see it go. Its corporate politics were a tad to the right, and I didn't particularly like the results of its having taken over the Waldenbooks/Brentanos chain. Which is to say that I was far more upset about that takeover.

Likewise, I was far more upset over what "Papa Haft" did to his son's chain, Crown Books. Or my recent discovery that Bertrand Smith's Acres of Books, long a fixture of downtown Long Beach, had closed a few years ago.

 

[mindx2]

I'm not all that sad to see it go. Its corporate politics were a tad to the right...

What?! Regardless of left, right, or center a lot of good people (conservative, independent and liberal) are losing their jobs. That is NEVER a good thing, especially in this economy.

 

[MHT1138]

I'm not all that sad to see it go. Its corporate politics were a tad to the right...

What?! Regardless of left, right, or center a lot of good people (conservative, independent and liberal) are losing their jobs. That is NEVER a good thing, especially in this economy.

I agree mindx2 a lot of good people will lose their jobs, jobs that they love - believe me working in a book store is a wonderful job. Plus, there is something about going to a book store and sitting and reading. Or having a great book recommended to you by a bookseller or even another customer.
I know their are other book stores, but it is a loss.
Also I don't know where I can get Seattles Best Coffe at a full service cafe, if not at Borders - I love their coffee.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Perhaps the death of larger scale book "superstores" could be a good thing for book lovers. The online retailers can be purveyors of the mass produced sequels and "mainstream" fiction and smaller brick and mortar retailers can be the place to go for new and interesting reads.

 

[Idran]

Perhaps the death of larger scale book "superstores" could be a good thing for book lovers. The online retailers can be purveyors of the mass produced sequels and "mainstream" fiction and smaller brick and mortar retailers can be the place to go for new and interesting reads.

But if the industry did end up shaking out that way, what about the smaller towns that wouldn't have the customer base to support those smaller B&M retailers?

 

[Man of Steel]

I used to work for Borders. I used to work for Tower Records. This, like that, saddens me.

Seems every job you have is bad luck. Stop picking the short straw.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

i stopped by Borders on my way home from work. I've never seen the store that busy, even at Christmas.

I bought a magazine (40 percent off) and Christopher Bennett's Spider-Man novel from about five years ago (three dollars).

I was glad I bought A Dance With Dragons there on Monday; it actually would have been more expensive today than it was then.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

It sucks--but obviously they were not fit to survive as a business. Barnes & Noble outmaneuvered them with the nook and maintained a better upper-end store, Books-A-Million cornered the working-class market, and Hastings (a chain in the South that does a strong new and used business in-store, on top of video rental) has been showing signs in the last few years that they may start getting more aggressive and push their way into larger markets instead of just nibbling at smaller cities like Auburn, Jonesboro, Neu Braunfels, and the like.

Personally, I'm rooting for B & N and Hastings.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Perhaps the death of larger scale book "superstores" could be a good thing for book lovers. The online retailers can be purveyors of the mass produced sequels and "mainstream" fiction and smaller brick and mortar retailers can be the place to go for new and interesting reads.

But if the industry did end up shaking out that way, what about the smaller towns that wouldn't have the customer base to support those smaller B&M retailers?

This chain demonstrates how it's possible to have multiple sizes of store. They began in markets exactly like what you're describing.

http://www.gohastings.com/?attempts=1

I am also hoping they will prove to be the big winner after Borders' demise.