Another Pre-RIP: Borders Bookstore

[thewayne]

Apparently they're having severe financial problems and collapse is just around the corner, likely to be bought out by Barnes & Noble. I seem to recall reading about the closure of a Borders in someone's blog, I think Felisdemens, and I was quite surprised.

Many years ago, there were two major bookstore chains in Phoenix, they evolved into Borders and Barnes & Noble. Though I always felt that Borders had the better selection overall, I never liked the feel of the stores. I've yet to identify exactly what bothered me, and this is not to say that I go into throes of ecstacy when I walk into B&N, it's just that Borders has never been my primary destination. Dunno why. So now most of the mom & pops have died, though they seem to be making a bit of a come back, and now one of the majors is about to die. I wonder if Amazon might make a play for them.

http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2008/03/giant-bookstore.html

Comments

[fastlearner.livejournal.com]

I'm just the opposite, I've always been very comfortable in Borders stores and they're always my first choice, while B&Ns feel... I dunno, corporate, I guess.

Amazon make Borders their brick and mortar stores is a very interesting proposition... assuming this isn't a sign that bookstores are dying permanently.

Big bummer.

[thedragonweaver.livejournal.com]

I worked at a Borders and I have to say that if they go down they've got no one but themselves to blame.

See, we had a very active GM, always looking for ways to bring local traffic to the store. He encouraged us employees to come up with ideas. So a couple of my friends started up a monthly gaming group. End result: Anime and gaming sales doubled and tripled. He brought in authors for signings. End result: Sales of those books, and traffic, went higher. We did our own quirky advertising campaigns when certain products came up (such as creating the character of Pumpkin Spice to sell coffee.) End result: Those products sold more.

A few years ago this wonderful GM quit and went to work for his city's Chamber of Commerce. Why? Borders didn't like his being so independent and doing all of these things that corporate minds hadn't thought up.

I like Borders a lot, especially the selection (which is, in point of fact, much bigger than Barnes & Noble.) But as I said, if they go down they've got no one to blame but themselves.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

You know, you finally solidified in my mind what I didn't care about with Borders: believe it or not, too much stock. It wasn't so much too much stock as too much in some areas. I mainly buy scifi and computer tech, and they never had what I was looking for in those two sections.

It sounds like your store was quite cool. Pity that the suits suffered from NIH syndrome.

Just goes to show frequently you how corporate America works: if you're not at the corporate level, you ain't shit.

[silveradept]

Hrm. Can't say this will be a good thing, as I like wandering through several different bookstores to compare prices and stocks. I wonder how much Borders crashing will drive people out to Amazon.com to buy books?

[thedragonweaver.livejournal.com]

A lot, I'm sure. I can't stand B&N because they don't have the necessary depth of field in the areas I look through; science fiction and fantasy are primarily relegated to "bestsellers" and, quite honestly, if I'm at a bookstore I want something NOW and I probably have all the ones they are pushing. Or I don't want those.

For example, does Barnes & Noble carry K.J. Parker, a Brit author whose work is, most often, about sieges? (Very good books involving sieges, but there is a definite trend.) I would be surprised to find M. Parker* there amidst the thousands of copies of Robert Jordan.

*K.J. Parker's identity is up for dispute. I happen to know Parker's actual gender, but that's privileged information.