Borders filing for chapter 11

Is anyone else out there a little shaken up about this whole Borders thing? They're going to be closing the store I usually go to, and I'm a little bummed.

:yell::aargh4::sigh::scared::zx11pissed::guilty:

I wanted to include more smileys to express my sadness, but apparently the limit is 6.

-Matt

 

This is the first I've heard of it.
Very sorry for your loss, Matt.
(I am an amazon.com, ship it to me, shopper.)

 

Borders is being killed off by amazon (and the like) just as Blockbuster is being killed off by Netflix. There are no bookstores within an hour of where I live and so I've been a customer of amazon for years. I love bookstores but they just can't compete with their online equivalents.

 

Don't get me wrong, I totally do the online shopping too! I buy my books online through Borders as well, as I really like their rewards program. But I also enjoyed going to their store at the mall. We could browse, and my daughter loved the kids' section. Since that store is closing, I guess we'll have to go to Barnes & Noble... but I've never really been a fan of them.

-Matt

 

It is sad that a major bookstore may disapear. But then Borders and Barnes & Noble rarely stock the kind of books I read and when they do they are expensive.

These two stores also sell music CDs but again they do not have what I want so I buy from Presto in the UK
Presto Classical - Buy classical CDs, opera CDs, & DVDs online

When I visit Portland, OR, I always visit Powells Used, New, and Out of Print Books - We Buy and Sell - Powell's Books
They offer a mix of used and new books on the same shelves - they also buy books and there is always a few people in line for that. I also buy from them via the Internet.

 

Matt - being in Canada where we are without both Borders and Barnes and Noble, what do you see are the differences between the two/why you prefer the one over the other?

 

It's layoffs at Powell's that concern me. I never really got into Borders.

Phillip

 

Not surprising given the traffic at my local Borders. Who still has Blockbusters in their area? How the ?#@$W do I get to use smileys?

 

I've always found that the local (if I can call it that) Borders had a better selection and friendlier service than Barnes & Noble. However, the true reason I like Borders is because I felt valued as a customer. I would get all kinds of coupons in my email for Borders... 30% off, 40% off, and then I'd get an additional 10% because I'm with their rewards program. I would only get 10% coupons to B&N. Furthermore, I'm also a teacher, and when they do teacher appreciation weeks, B&N offers 25% off, while Borders does 30% AND I can get the additional 10% for being a rewards member.

-Matt

 

Border's

The Border's here, in NM, always had free gourmet coffee. That is, until recently due to cutbacks. I spent hours there researching graduate schools. The employees were really friendly and the store had a small town customer service attitude. The rumour here is that Barnes & Noble is buying them out.

 

Your smileys don't work?

 

I just figured it out. If I use "quick reply" = no smileys.

 

OK, good; had me worried there.

 

Within my driving range there's one Borders and one B&N. The Borders shop is small, selling mostly best sellers and gift books. It's a nice shop and they're more than happy to order anything you want. I have a Borders card and they send me coupons, etc. via email and I never use them because I only go there when I need something TODAY (can't wait for amazon) like for a gift. The B&N is a huge store that you can browse in for hours. It's in a sprawling strip mall and so you can go there as a part of a larger shopping trip. You can order books online from B&N and pick them up at the store. Very convenient as you save the shipping charges.

If I won a LOT of money in the lottery I'd give some serious thought to opening a book store where I live. I could operate it just to break even and probably make it work. I love book stores and I'm sorry that Borders is disappearing. They didn't keep up with the online world and now they are joining the dinosaurs. As we move toward electronic books (kindle, etc.) more book stores will disappear. Someday, someone will make a PBS documentary on the extinction of books. Sad.:sigh1:

 

Ditto.....

 

I used to try to do some dissertation work at the local Borders. Too many parents were using it as cheap day care. They would drop off their kids, leave, and pick them up a few hours later. Kids would be running around making all sorts of noise.

 

Here's another side of it: a very good blog by a retired independent bookseller (his store, in Mendocino, California, is still one of the great independents). He mourns the loss of 19,000 jobs in the Borders division of K-Mart . . . but not their decades of their role in the demise of the independent bookseller: Words on Books... and a few other things from time to time: Gloating, just a little...

 

This might be of interest. Borders survives in Asia. Since 2008, Borders stores in Singapore, as well as Australia and New Zealand, are owned by Redgroup Retail - an Australian book and stationery retailer - and not the US chain.

 

Amazon screwed them over badly in their partnership they had. Amazon got to sell books online for them which gave Amazon an edge online, once they had it they dropped em.