The Closing of Borders

[Alidar Jarok]

I went today hoping to find a massive clearance sale. Everything was 20% off, but that's really not all that much given their high prices to begin with. I'll go back in a couple of weeks and see if they've lowered it at all. I did buy two books anyway, so I guess the price wasn't too bad.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Everything always seemed to be discounted off of the publisher's price, that's all I noticed.

 

[RoJoHen]

Everything always seemed to be discounted off of the publisher's price, that's all I noticed.

Really? Everything at my Borders was usually more expensive than the publisher's price!

 

[NextGen123]

I went today hoping to find a massive clearance sale. Everything was 20% off, but that's really not all that much given their high prices to begin with. I'll go back in a couple of weeks and see if they've lowered it at all. I did buy two books anyway, so I guess the price wasn't too bad.

I know that anything 50 per cent off and above will take more time. From what I've read they want to pay off their crditors, hence the so so discounts. I don't intend to go back ever. I got what will be my last new Trek novel from Borders. It was Vanguard Declassified.

I read in my local paper they intend to stay open till September. I don't see how. The store is very empty as it is. I was just surprised at how quickly the store went down hill. The place was so dark, I found with great difficulty the graphic novel section. Only to see that the discount is only 10 per cent. It's like a tornado hit the place and everything was scattered all over the place.

As soon as I get the money I am going to get a Kindle. That's so I don't have to worry about storing my books anymore. I just got the PC version of Kindle for free on my computer and I really like it. Amazon has a feature where you can reload all your books to your Kindle when you purchase one. All I need is a more compfortable chair to read them in. My current desk chair is over 12 years old and has had it. The $300 chair I ordered at Staples was never faxed by the manager and was "Lost" according to his replacement. I did get my money back, however, the chair I ended up with was not the best one.

 

[RoJoHen]

Well, if they're closing, there's very little incentive for them to keep the stores in fantastic shape.

There are no discounts on the website, I noticed. Are they planning to keep the online store open, or will it eventually shut down as well?

 

[RandyS]

In my Borders, the SciFi, Fantasy, and graphic novels are all right next to each other.

This was the case with mine (the one with good customer service) also, but then last year, it was moved in the way NextGen described.

 

[NextGen123]

In my Borders, the SciFi, Fantasy, and graphic novels are all right next to each other.

This was the case with mine (the one with good customer service) also, but then last year, it was moved in the way NextGen described.

I have another wonderful Borders story. I went to search for a book about an actor (who appeared on DS9) Richard Kiley and it was available. Used at $54.99.

The original price was somewhere around $25.

Apparently I was told to buy it online from a seller associated with the Borders site.

Most of the time the online kiosks never worked. If you wanted something printed from the Borders site you had to go to the main desk. That was located in the center of the store.

Initially, when the kiosks went up, the coustomer could print data from the site so you could have your own hard copy of your ordering info.

I believe refilling those kiosks with paper each day became too costly so they decided to print order info at the main desk.

As soon as I discovered that I could download a version of Kindle free for my computer, I've never looked back. It was my many negative experiences with Borders that drove me to Kindle. In about a month or so I am going to purchse one of the hand held ones for about $114. I have so many books that they are taking over my room. Kindle will be a welcome alternative for new books because I won't need a warehouse for my collection.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I was hoping this thread was gonna be about Mexico.

You and me both brother!

When there were still other bookstores around, Borders were always more expensive with an lesser selection.

Now with a hundred online options, I can't believe they lasted near as long as they did.

Same with Blockbuster.

If I could predict which store is going to go chapter 11 next, I'd have to say Best Buy. They don't have their DVD's at low prices like Wal-Mart.

I find the exact opposite to be true more often than not. 4 Wal-Marts within 10 miles and one Best Buy and I usually get better prices and lots better selection at the BB.

And BB doesn't have a huge Spanish language section the way a couple of the WM's do

Though I buy 95% of my DVD's/BD's & CD's from Amazon or one of their 3rd party sellers and occasionally from ebay.

 

[doubleohfive]

I don't know what you guys are talking about. Between Barnes & Noble and Borders, I always found Borders to be the cheaper option. Especially when shopping for movies or music.

Beyond that, I will miss Borders for more personal reasons. While I do enjoy shopping at Barnes & Noble and they do have a nicer, dare I say classier environment that appeals to my English major sensibility, Borders was always, always the more comfortable environ to go to to waste a lazy Sunday sipping a mocha while thumbing through an old favorite classic.

Before I moved here, I made a point to go to my local Borders at Bailey's Crossroads for a signing - Giada de Laurentiis was hocking her first cookbook, which in turn had her famous limoncello recipe, which I became quite fond of. She signed the book and I got a photo with her, and now, six years later, I still find myself bottling that limoncello and giving it away as gifts to those closest to me.

When I first came to California, Bears Discover Fire and I made a point to go to the Borders in downtown Long Beach for some much awaited canoodling and 'window reading' together after a day at the Aquarium of the Pacific. We bought each other a science fiction novel each. (I got The Left Hand of Darkness, which still sits on my shelf today.) I spent many an hour at my local store in Long Beach after that wiling away the hours and losing myself in good books.

Now that particular Borders is closed and those delightful Sunday afternoons, like her, are long gone.

A few months ago, someone sent me the the initial list of all the Borders' in the US that would be closing. Of course every single store I'd ever been to was on that list, covering California, Delaware, Washington DC, Virginia and New York. Naturally, I made a point to visit my local branches in Sherman Oaks and Glendale to give them whatever last business I could (They seemed to have a plethora of Jonah Hex calendars. Can't imagine why those didn't sell...)

It's the end of an era, certainly and while as I said I do enjoy shopping at Barnes & Noble, I will miss my fun, carefree days at Borders.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ Certainly between Border's and B&N, Borders may have been the cheaper one.

I just remember places like Kroch's and Brentano's, B. Dalton (bought by B&N unfortunately) and maybe one other from years ago that always had any book I was after.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I don't know what you guys are talking about. Between Barnes & Noble and Borders, I always found Borders to be the cheaper option. Especially when shopping for movies or music.

Both prices sucked, though. When I say they aren't reasonable, I certainly wasn't implying Barnes & Noble is.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Personally, the only reason I ever went to the Borders here in my hometown is because they seem to employ a hell of a lot of beautiful women. But, I actually wanted competitively priced books, I would just go to the Barnes & Noble or get it online.

 

[I Grok Spock]

The free "Borders Rewards" coupons were pretty decent. These were typically for 30 - 40% off one item, though sometimes it would be 25% off an entire purchase. Once in a while, you'd get a 50% off one. Yes, they were a pain to remember to print and use, but it was worth it.

The pay version of the rewards program would net you another 10% off, similar to B&N. Plus, you could accumulate "Borders Bucks" at certain purchase thresholds. If you played the system right, they would be competitive with Amazon. But, it seems they never were able to catch up with Internet book sales and ebook emergence.

Speaking of which, does anyone have one of their Kobo readers? I overheard an employee tell a customer that the Kobo would continue on, as it is a product owned by a standalone company. However, you apparently need to transfer your library to the Kobo servers, or something.

Lastly, I found the staff at my local stores to be very pleasant and helpful, on the whole.

 

[RoJoHen]

I don't know what you guys are talking about. Between Barnes & Noble and Borders, I always found Borders to be the cheaper option. Especially when shopping for movies or music.

Both prices sucked, though. When I say they aren't reasonable, I certainly wasn't implying Barnes & Noble is.

I don't know why anyone would ever buy movies or music at either of those stores. Their selection sucks, and their prices are absurd.

 

[23skidoo]

Beyond that, I will miss Borders for more personal reasons. While I do enjoy shopping at Barnes & Noble and they do have a nicer, dare I say classier environment that appeals to my English major sensibility, Borders was always, always the more comfortable environ to go to to waste a lazy Sunday sipping a mocha while thumbing through an old favorite classic.

...

It's the end of an era, certainly and while as I said I do enjoy shopping at Barnes & Noble, I will miss my fun, carefree days at Borders.

This deserves spotlighting. People are thinking with their wallets too much when it comes to the closure of places like this. They forget that bookstores are more than just places to buy stuff. They're places to enjoy, to hang out, to meet people. And to explore literature one might not even consider buying. It happened to me yesterday - I went into an independent bookstore, saw a fantastic book of adventure fiction I didn't even know existed, and bought it on the spot. With the Internet, that sort of "spec sale" is virtually impossible.

We don't have Borders here in Canada. We have Chapters and Indigo (which are similar stores, owned by the same company) and in some cities the far superior McNally & Robinson as well. Fortunately, whenever I go to these places they are always packed and I always see people carrying books. So with any luck no Chapter 11 for them in the near future. The books they sell are cover price, except for the usual discount area. And I don't hear anyone complaining unless the publisher gets a brain fart and overprices a book.

Not everyone enjoys buying clothes. Sporting goods stores bore the hell out of me. I stay in Wal-Mart for as little time as possible and most Wal-Marts I've been to are so oppressive that the browsing for DVDs/books experience is very unpleasant. Places like borders - or HMV Canada (a music/DVD chain that is on shaky ground after being sold for pocket change by its parent company a couple months ago; everyone expects it to vanish before long, leaving Canada's malls virtually devoid of specialty DVD/music stores) - provide excuses for people like me to actually get off these damn computers. And to have them disappear because people are so damn cheap and lazy that all they want is to double click and have instant gratification (and then throw the music and movies and literature away when they're no longer interested, which anyone in the creative arts should consider the ultimate insult) is frankly the saddest, most depressing and most disheartening part of living in the 21st century and, worse yet, growing old in the 21st century.

My only consolation as physical media (and the places that sell them - and the next person who uses the "horse and buggy shop" analogy gets a kick in the gonads) dies the slow death is something I've said many times and will continue to say: it's going to come back and bite us as a society in the ass so hard we'll have our choice of which orifices to fart from.

Alex

 

[Forbin]

This deserves spotlighting. People are thinking with their wallets too much when it comes to the closure of places like this. They forget that bookstores are more than just places to buy stuff. They're places to enjoy, to hang out, to meet people. And to explore literature one might not even consider buying. It happened to me yesterday - I went into an independent bookstore, saw a fantastic book of adventure fiction I didn't even know existed, and bought it on the spot. With the Internet, that sort of "spec sale" is virtually impossible.

Agreed. I very often go to B&N just to look for a new author to sample. Look for a cover that grabs me, read the jacket, move on to another, etc.

 

[MHT1138]

I am devastated about Borders closing. I had worked off and on. seasonally, part time, full time at Borders, or Brentanos, or Waldenbooks from 1997 to 2011. I was the Children's book expert at the Borders in Scottsdale, AZ until it closed in April. And I had been going to buy my books there for as long as I can remember. The Waldenbooks in my local mall, which is also now gone, was a great little store. I ended up working there.

I think to go into a Borders and spend an afternoon reading a magazine, or browsing through some books deciding which ones to buy, enjoying a coffee was so perfect.

The prices at a Barnes and Noble and Borders are the same for the most part. The best way to get a good deal is to negotiate the coupons, which not everyone likes to do. It cost more money to operate an actual bookstore than an online site so their prices are going to be higher. Being able to go into a bookstore with a vague description of a book that was on the bestseller list a couple of months ago and be be hooked up immediately is pretty cool. Or to get great personalized recommendations is pretty neat.

I am probably biased but the customer service at my Borders was awesome. Also events like storytime, author signings or a hearing a local band you can't get online. I know that used bookstores and Barnes and Noble will be able to do many of these things, but I am going to miss Borders.

Also Seattles Best Coffee which I love will be difficult to get as well.

Some of the stores will close earlier than September, and keep watching for the discounts to go down. It is actually a great time to buy some magazines you might not normally buy, they are the most discounted right now, but they will go quick.

 

[NextGen123]

I am devastated about Borders closing. I had worked off and on. seasonally, part time, full time at Borders, or Brentanos, or Waldenbooks from 1997 to 2011. I was the Children's book expert at the Borders in Scottsdale, AZ until it closed in April. And I had been going to buy my books there for as long as I can remember. The Waldenbooks in my local mall, which is also now gone, was a great little store. I ended up working there.

I think to go into a Borders and spend an afternoon reading a magazine, or browsing through some books deciding which ones to buy, enjoying a coffee was so perfect.

The prices at a Barnes and Noble and Borders are the same for the most part. The best way to get a good deal is to negotiate the coupons, which not everyone likes to do. It cost more money to operate an actual bookstore than an online site so their prices are going to be higher. Being able to go into a bookstore with a vague description of a book that was on the bestseller list a couple of months ago and be be hooked up immediately is pretty cool. Or to get great personalized recommendations is pretty neat.

I am probably biased but the customer service at my Borders was awesome. Also events like storytime, author signings or a hearing a local band you can't get online. I know that used bookstores and Barnes and Noble will be able to do many of these things, but I am going to miss Borders.

Also Seattles Best Coffee which I love will be difficult to get as well.

Some of the stores will close earlier than September, and keep watching for the discounts to go down. It is actually a great time to buy some magazines you might not normally buy, they are the most discounted right now, but they will go quick.

I wish I had that to say about my own local Borders. Anytime you wanted a cupon redeemed, it was a big hassle. That was because the management never properly trained the employees behind the counter.

When and if I tried to order a book the magager who never smiled and had a real attitude always ended up searching for the book I wanted to order. The employees, who changed from month to month, never seemed to know how to order a book.

I never saw the same employee twice when I went to the store. Five years ago I'd go on almost a weekly basis. There were times when I had to go to the back of the store to get someone for me to ring out my purchase. There was never anyone around in the super store to help. What I couldn't understand was how could there be such a large store and no one around to even ring register?

 

[RoJoHen]

What I can't understand is why you kept going to back to a store that you clearly despised.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

The best thing about brick and mortar bookstores was the ability to browse books to see if you really wanted it. It probably sucked for the management, since it looked like I was treating it like a library, but it was the biggest reason I ever shopped there.