Borders Bookstores Nationwide Closing

[Rita Hayworth]

Boaders Bookstores Closing



Internet News Article
http://www.geekosystem.com/borders-bookstore-dead/

Watching my local news channel; I was shocked to hear that all stores (about 399 ... of what I heard) will be closed forever and all employees will be laid off. Why, I report this news to all of us here ... I consider Boarders a good place to get both books and movies for all to enjoy day in and day out.

On the weekend; I like to shop movies and books there and I amazed the selections that they have and sad to say ... I haven't done that for awhile because of Summer upon us now. When, my local news informed me of this shocking news ... I , , and to hear this because I enjoy going there and getting great stuff to take home to read and pop a popular movie on my DVD PLAYER and let my worries go by throughout the day or night.

I have two friends that work there and I know the hardships that they are going through right now; and I'm unhappy to hear this because I know that they were having troubles ... but not finding a buyer makes me sad.

With more and more books and movies are being sold online and films being streamed into our televisions and our Personal Computers and with websites like HULU around ... I see an explosion of movies being channeled (its already happening) to our lives to be watched anytime you want. I know that ... because you told me so in other threads throughout this forum that we loved so much.

But, anyway ... I know its sad to hear this ... but I had fun shopping there and one of the first section I hit is their Bargain Books Section that is close to the Checkout Counter and brought a Marx Brothers book for $2.99 ... normally retails at $19.99 Nationwide.

[markfp]

I always loved bookstores, but I think the chains didn't take threat of online booksellers like amazon seriously. It was the "if we ignore them, they'll go away" syndrome. By the time they did it was too late as they had lost a good portion of their customer base. They continued to sell books at full price while other sources offered big discounts. Even for the most loyal customer it got pretty hard to resist pre-ordering a new book at 40% off with free shipping and delivery to their door on the day of release.

[MichiganJ]

I think it was Borders bizarre partnering with Amazon that really did them in. Once that partnership dissolved, people were already accustomed to go directly to Amazon. Barnes and Noble has had a decent internet presence, and at least tries to compete with Amazon (Nook vs. Kindle).

Hopefully the Borders' closing will bring rise again to the small independent bookstore with focused inventory. The one time I was in San Francisco, I remember spending hours in a tiny bookstore devoted entirely to film. My suitcase going home was considerably heavier, and I was the happier for it.

[charliechaplinfan]

Our Borders bookshops went about a year ago. They weren't widely spread across the country and have only been on our shores for 10 years, I'm saddened that the stores are closing in America too. I have fond memories of trips to America, taken before we had the kids, were my hubby and I spent ages browsing in Borders and Virgin stores, it was absolute bliss for us. Our bookstores here weren't as welcoming and don't include cafes inside. The additional plus of these shops opening into the evening so people could meet up and make choosing a book a social event. I always thought this approach was a very mature one to reading and knowledge. I'm not sure how long our bookshops will survive, I've only used them to look for books for the children as they have a terrible collection of movie books and what they do have can be undercut by 40% by Amazon.

I'd love to run a second hand movie bookshop an memoribila store but I'd run up a huge debt to myself and I think location and internet links would be key.

[moira finnie]

Maybe there is an upside to this, though the hit felt by the employees must be hard to take (though not entirely surprising, since in the last two years, every time I went into a Borders, the stock was seriously dwindling).

After Borders hit the suburbs and the multilevel Waterstone Booksellers from the UK made forays into the metropolitan Boston area, they were eventually replaced by some indie book shops that continue to exist and some that emerged, fed in part by the collegiate community, but also by the vibrant community of readers. Even here in the wilds of upstate New York, I can think of several nearby towns that have real, independent bookstores that are an integral part of small towns of between 8k and 14k populations. Also locally, more and more public libraries are finding a niche within their walls and nearby where they can sell overstocked donated books, rare books and paperbacks--and the community is using them more because the prices are just right for tightened family budgets.

Do you think that Amazon will continue to thrive in the near future, even as cash-strapped states start to impose taxes on internet transactions? Has anyone come up with a better business model yet?

[movieman1957]

Borders was in trouble several years ago when they didn't get on the internet wagon. Barnes and Nobles now apparently sells three downloaded books for every "real" book. They're just hanging on but getting by.

I thought the Amazon problem was more about websites that linked in a state to the Amazon site. if you go directly to Amazon I thought that avoided the problem. Don't know for sure. There is no problem for that in MD.

I enjoyed going to Borders because they had a great classical music selection. They even had a good selection of music books. I could find sheet music which was really a find. not much but some. Even with that it was hard to beat Amazon on price. I could wait a week if I was going to save $10 or $15 on an order.

It is only 15 miles to the nearest Barnes and Noble.

[Gary J.]

Just a scant 10 years ago Border's was my bookstore of choice for daylong bookstore browsing. Their music, books and film selections were eclectic enough that I didn't feel like I was in a mall store. But where it really came in handy was that it was the only place in town here (Phoenix) that would consistently carry the monthly editions of CLASSIC IMAGES MAGAZINE. And when two years later the mags appearance on their newsstand became more erratic (and finally disappearing) I knew they were already changing over their marketing plan and I would be frequenting there less and less.