Really? Neither of my Waterstones have coffee and have very pleasant staff... who are both helpful and quite enthusiastic about what I'm buying as they all seem to read the same authors! And no DVDs/games either, solely books.
Borders UK gone bust
- Thread starter BrotherBenny
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Really? Neither of my Waterstones have coffee and have very pleasant staff... who are both helpful and quite enthusiastic about what I'm buying as they all seem to read the same authors! And no DVDs/games either, solely books.
Went in there this morning, the '50% off sale' is a joke, it's pretty much all 20% besides about 3 categories. However, those happened to be categories I was interested in (law and cookery, if you must know), so I got some good half-off bargains 
Well, I'm probably the only person who'd ever be interested in 'Investigative Interviewing' even at 50% off, but I thought it was good! After our little discussion in the Merlin thread I also picked up a modern spelling/punctuation copy of Le Morte D'Arthur which Deckerd can laugh at me for.
One thing I did notice, connected less to Border per se and more to the fact I haven't been in a real life chain bookstore for a while, but my god there are a lot of Twilight rip-offs on sale aren't there? My particular favourite was one that seemed to be the exact same story but with ghosts instead of vampires. The star of the book was even called 'Ella'.
Well, I'm probably the only person who'd ever be interested in 'Investigative Interviewing' even at 50% off, but I thought it was good! After our little discussion in the Merlin thread I also picked up a modern spelling/punctuation copy of Le Morte D'Arthur which Deckerd can laugh at me for. One thing I did notice, connected less to Border per se and more to the fact I haven't been in a real life chain bookstore for a while, but my god there are a lot of Twilight rip-offs on sale aren't there? My particular favourite was one that seemed to be the exact same story but with ghosts instead of vampires. The star of the book was even called 'Ella'.
The Cardiff Borders always bothered me. There's so much empty space downstairs (as if they're saying, "Look how spacious and airy. Books? You don't need those! Look how shiny!") and their crime and sci-fi books were always rammed right in the back corner. The upstairs was so cluttered and hodge-podge that it looked like a Woolworths! Always better to trot down the road to Waterstone's!
I couldn't fault their wide range of specialist magazines though.
Their upstairs is an utter joke. And I agree with everything you said. I will not miss it.
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
I've been saying this for over a year now that Borders and to most extent Barnes and Noble are going to be killed by the recession here in the US.
Maybe if (like Waterstones too) they didn't have so many chairs around, people would actually buy the books and magazines as opposed to sitting there reading them for free and putting them back on the shelves.
It's basically like HMV; overpriced to fuck. I'll go in there to have a look at the physical product, but Christ DO NOT BUY IT THERE. Highstreet prices are a joke (literally, I can just walk round HMV laughing at their price tags. I can't believe people buy things there), Amazon or Play will sort me out.
And if HMV is bad, the Music & DVD section of Borders astounds me
It's basically like HMV; overpriced to fuck. I'll go in there to have a look at the physical product, but Christ DO NOT BUY IT THERE. Highstreet prices are a joke (literally, I can just walk round HMV laughing at their price tags. I can't believe people buy things there), Amazon or Play will sort me out.
And if HMV is bad, the Music & DVD section of Borders astounds me
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
That sucks--I hate hearing about bookstores closing.I'm not sure that Borders in the US is doing that much better--they've been closing stores around the US, and some of them have gotten rid of their music sections.
That is correct, Top. I'll PM you something...but they are struggling badly.
I bloody hated chairs and benches when I worked at a bookstore. Piles of books three feet high by each and everyone!
Then there was the homeless guy who defecated in one! 
Very interesting and very true. There are plenty of issues though. If the Net Book Agreement still stood, we'd be forced to pay £18.99--or more--for a hardback book. I refuse to pay that and will wait for the trade paperback or the mass market paperback. The reason HBs are priced so high? They cost a lot to print and the publisher has to sell loads to make money. TPBs are similar but cost less to make and sell similar to HBs. PBs are still the best sellers, but in the age of instant gratification, I think we'll see Waterstones, W H Smiths and anyone else who's left becoming POD kiosks. A big machine that prints books on demand. People might then sit down and read the book while drinking a cuppa. Or eBooks might take over completely and real books will be all but gone.
Are we seeing the decline in books or are we seeing a move to a system where everything is immediately available like the Americans do with everything else?
It is indeed, thanks for the link.
One very interesting point it raised was the idea that 'franchise fatigue' will drive customers back to independent or more welcoming bookshops and away from the chains. This is certainly true with me, I usually avoid chain bookshops like the plague (although I am a devoted customer of Amazon) because they're huge, impersonal, and feel like 'book supermarkets' where you will be frowned upon for browsing. And more importantly, I am hopeless at choosing books. Faced with a shop like Borders or Waterstones with shelves of unattended fiction with nothing to distinguish a book from any other, I will end up buying nothing. I'm someone who needs recommendation, needs some idea what is worth reading and what isn't, needs a staff who know their stuff. And the chains can very rarely provide that.
^Same here, I either tend to have a specific book in mine, in which case I'll go to Amazon, or if I go in to the shop it's to browse. I may have some ideas but when it comes to the 3 for 2 offers, I never know what to buy. I end up with 1 or 2 books in hand with no idea on the third so I just go home and buy the one (or two) I was interested in from Amazon.
I'm more likely to just randomly try a book if it's at a discount shop for £1 or £2 than pay full price but even then I don't particlularly like buying random books with no idea, because that way I've usually ended up with book 2 of 3 or something.
I'm more likely to just randomly try a book if it's at a discount shop for £1 or £2 than pay full price but even then I don't particlularly like buying random books with no idea, because that way I've usually ended up with book 2 of 3 or something.
Mind sharing your inside knowledge on why B&N is going to be 'killed' by the recession? I know Borders here in the U.S. is likely to fold when their loans come due on 1 April 2010, but B&N is in a far better position financially.
