Borders book stores to shut down

[Becky]

Borders Books is shutting down, meaning that its remaining 399 stores are closing and nearly 11,000 people will be left jobless. Borders' president Mike Edwards says this is the result of the changing book industry, although online debates have surfaced, arguing whether or not the development of ebooks is really to blame.

When Borders first announced bankruptcy earlier this year, the store in West Lafayette, Indiana was one of the first to close, followed shortly by other locations I frequented in the Indianapolis area. I was initially surprised the Borders in WL closed so soon, given its proximity to Purdue University, and that its competitor (Barnes & Noble) was a further drive away for those residing in WL.

I visited one of the remaining Borders in Indianapolis by accident (shopping at a mall and discovered its location) about a month and a half ago, and although that store hadn't made any announcements about closing, many of its items were deeply discounted- DVDs at 40-50% off, signs around the store advertising various sales on almost every type of item. The only thing missing in that particular Borders was the 'Store Closing' sign I had anticipated.

For those of you in the U.S., did you spend much time at Borders? What do you think is the big cause? Was Borders falling far behind the times?

[Cynder]

We used to have Borders here in the UK, but it closed a while ago. I don't really know why, but I used to love that bookshop :(

[Magmar]

I work right upstairs from a Borders. It will be sad to see it go. They make damn good iced chai tea lattes, and have a decent selection of books... unless you're looking for a GMAT study guide ;[

[Deadwood_Zen]

I used to love going to the one in Carson. They had a shelf of noting but hundreds of D&D and other tabletop RPG manuals. I normally did nothing but sit there and read the manuals from cover to cover. I FINALLY finished them all, and found the manga section(which I never knew existed because I was to pre-occupied with the RPG section). That section was the size of a classroom! O:

I am terribly sad to see them go, even if I could only afford to buy there rarely. I normally use the library for novels, and bought RPG sourcebooks at Border's. Still extremely depressing :[

[DivineAll]

Aww... I prefer Borders over B&N. I even have a Borders club card and a Borders rewards account. Granted, I don't use them much, but still... *sigh* Guess I have to switch over to B&N membership now. After doing some last discount shopping at my nearest Borders store that is.

[mr_pikachu]

Yeah, it's distressing. I was always more of a Borders fan than a Barnes & Noble supporter, even if the biggest reason was just Borders' open-access computer system in the stores to search for stocked merchandise. (I really hope B&N adopts that at some point.)

My Borders Rewards account has been active since high school, and I used to spend hours in the store, whether I was looking for a new novel/manga or just browsing and gathering writing inspiration. With that in mind, it's really disturbing to see all these stores closing now.

Maybe this will give B&N a position of monopolistic strength, or maybe the fall of Borders merely heralds the decline of print media as a whole. I guess we'll know the answer once we see what happens next: whether B&N sees a 150-200% sales jump or whether it goes the way of Borders.

I'm also interested in what this means for professional writers. Whether you're working in the newspaper industry, reporting for a magazine, or publishing novels for a living, the developments of recent years have to be rather terrifying. While I'm working in the academy, I also still maintain aspirations as a novelist, so I don't like the prospect of being limited to publishing via e-reader or online sales. (Frankly, I always fantasized about holding a book signing in my local Borders, but I guess that's not happening now.) Based on most e-book prices, profit margins have historically seemed slightly lower than those of print books, although that negative effect may be offset by significantly lower publication costs (and therefore much lower risk for publishers). Additionally, if in-print books become defunct, e-book distributors may capitalize on the opportunity and raise their prices -- or they might lower prices to ratchet up more sales. For those of you who have some further insights or interest in publishing your own written works, what do you think about all of this?

[Asilynne]

Aww... I prefer Borders over B&N. I even have a Borders club card and a Borders rewards account. Granted, I don't use them much, but still... *sigh* Guess I have to switch over to B&N membership now. After doing some last discount shopping at my nearest Borders store that is.

This...:(

[Gavin Luper]

This depresses me so much. I grew up in a small town so we didn't have a Borders there, but when I moved to the city it was such a cool bookshop to go to, I quite loved it. It's a shame.

As Brian said, the fact that this closure is quite possibly a symptom of the bookselling industry is kind of terrifying for me as a writer. I, too, have always had those dreams of being a published author (as in a friggin BOOK, not some stupid electronic app on a screen) and of doing book signings and whatnot. It's kind of scary and I don't know what's next for the industry, but I'm clinging to the hope that I can find a way to succeed in it.

[Becky]

The biggest thing I've thought about is that if we don't have bookstores, how that's going to change the way we look for books. I bought my iPad a few months ago for the sole purpose of reading (I've since used it for other things- news apps, games, e-mail, etc...), since I've wanted an e-reader for awhile but I felt like there was something missing with the Kindle and Nook. When I shop for books on my iPad, I pretty much go through the Kindle store, sometimes the B&N store. But what I liked about bookstores is that I'd discover books that I normally wouldn't have thought to pick up, because the experience wasn't tailored the way it is (to an extent) online. I liked that feeling of discovery.

The coffee place attached to Borders didn't hurt, either. :)

[Gavin Luper]

I love hybrid bookshop-cafes, they are my favourite! And being able to browse through some books, then get a coffee and do some reading or writing ... that is something that an app can't provide.

Nor is it particularly cosy to get into bed on a stormy night, get warm under the rugs and curl up with a good screen. So books still have their upsides.

[mattbcl]

Aww... I prefer Borders over B&N. I even have a Borders club card and a Borders rewards account. Granted, I don't use them much, but still... *sigh* Guess I have to switch over to B&N membership now. After doing some last discount shopping at my nearest Borders store that is.

Yeah, I'm with you there.

I don't usually live in places where there's a Borders nearby. The best I've had is Waldenbooks, which is subsidiary to Borders and accepts the club / card account. Now I feel like I should rush out to the mall to peruse their shelves one more time. What really annoys me about that is they're losing a perfectly good book store and the space will probably be filled with yet another women's clothing store - we have far too many of those as is.

Borders and B&N both have their own bona fides for me, but I tend to support B&N more. They both have their perks and their downfalls. Here's one that occurred to me as I was reading everyone else's responses: sure, it's nice to hit up a coffee shop attached to the place and read a book you're not actually going to buy, but I'm too afraid to do that for fear I'll spill - I am the very model of a modern Major Klutz.

It won't really change the way I read books. I like reading stories online well enough, but when it comes to professionally published fiction, I enjoy turning pages more. Not as much of a strain on my eyes, or on me... reading is great for de-stressing.

As for what I think the cause might be, I don't necessarily think Borders has been falling behind the times... it's just that they couldn't stay as competitive, never mind as ubiquitous, as Barnes & Noble, which (don't get me wrong, I love it but) is basically the Starbucks Book Store by any other name. They also have never quite offered quite the ambiance. The Borders stores I went to had seats at the coffee shop, but good luck finding leather recliners or couches to relax in. Also, I think B&N has had a lot of good luck - or perhaps just expert tacticians - in finding great locations to put their stores. Just out of the way enough that it's not in your face, but nevertheless RIGHT THERE. B&N always has what I'm looking for, and it's almost always in a place I want it to be. I didn't get that feeling with Borders, either. I look at B&N and I say, "Hey, look over there... we've gotta check it out!" When I look at Borders, I say, "Hey, look over there... let's visit if we swing back that direction."

[mr_pikachu]

They also have never quite offered quite the ambiance. The Borders stores I went to had seats at the coffee shop, but good luck finding leather recliners or couches to relax in.

Interesting. My experience, oddly enough, has been the exact opposite. Over the years, I've been to at least a dozen Borders stores in multiple states, and I can only recall two that didn't have ample seating along the sides and back of the store. B&N always had more of a Wal-Mart feel to me, in that regard. Unless you were planning to use a table (with stacks of books) as a recliner, you were expected to select your merchandise, hit up the register, and get out -- or at least get to the coffee area, where they have rows of tables and chairs.

On the other hand, I have to concede the location point. When I was in Oklahoma, for instance, there were a few B&N stores fairly near major malls, but just off to the side of the main intersection so that if you were looking down the road toward the housing areas, your eyes would naturally catch it before you made a turn. My favorite Borders store, on the other hand, sat across from a half-dead grocery store. (Yeah, that's just what you want to do when you have ice cream in your trunk: spend a couple of hours browsing through books!) Worse yet, it was buried so far behind a long drive and too-large parking lot that if you didn't know it was there, you were guaranteed to overlook it until you were almost at the next stoplight.

In any event, whether you're more of a Borders or a B&N fan, I think you have to agree that this is disappointing. Competition is healthy for the industry as a whole. Without any other major bookstores to compete with B&N, I wonder how the company's activities will change.

It's strange to think that just over a decade ago, we all sympathized (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128853/) with the plight of the small bookseller next to the giant, big box book retailers. When even the corporate juggernauts start failing, what will rise to fill the void?

[Drago]

Borders was the shit, man. I remember always coming out of Angus & Robertson disappointed, and getting the exact opposite from Borders.

Always, at least something for me at Borders. I always found the price of books a bit steep, but I would have gone apeshit at Borders in NYC had I known this was coming.

[Classtoise]

I remember hearing that when Borders opened up, everyone hated it for basically eating up every bookstore around it (and for a while in the mid-90s, it began doing just that again).

Now everyones so sad to see it go.

Eh. I don't care either way. I prefer B&N anyway.