(Photo Credit: Ordinary Grace)
“Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?”
~Henry Ward Beecher
By now you are well aware that one of the largest bookstore chains, Borders Books, has received its death sentence. The rumors began to surface over a week ago and any hopes for pardon were put to rest this past Friday when the remaining stores began to liquidate their merchandise. Last Wednesday evening I went to my local Borders to use the last coupon that was emailed out. It was the last hour before closing and though there were people in the store shopping, the weight of the reality of the store’s fate hung heavy in the air. As the teller rang up my purchase I wanted so badly to say “I’m sorry” but the words stuck in my throat. It was…it is…a sad day for people who love bookstores.
I understand that a love for chain bookstores is not a universal thing. There are many who hate Borders and Barnes and Noble with the same passion with which I reserve for another chain store, Wal-mart. Those feelings do not stop me from shopping there, nor do I withhold my paycheck from my wife and refuse to let her shop there. It is convenient, less expensive, and it works despite my feelings.
I hated Borders when it first opened.
I was living in Tulsa, OK and was working at a small, mall-based Waldenbooks store. When Borders opened across the street it started stealing our business. Which made perfect sense, they had a bigger selection and offered better discounts. It was easy for me to hate them. I got 33% off of any books I bought because of my employee discount. I could also check books out of my store as if it was a library. And if I wanted something we didn’t have I just had the store manager track it down for me and order it. I didn’t need Borders. The day eventually came when I decided that working the part time job on top of my full time job and going to school was just too much and I left Waldenbooks. After that Borders Books became much more attractive.
I have so many fond memories attached to Borders Books. I discovered that this guy who wrote the Sandman comics, Neil Gaiman, also wrote novels when I walked into one of Tulsa’s smaller Borders stores and saw Neverwhere sitting on the new releases shelf. I had long been a fan of Dracula but had not even checked to see if Bram Stoker wrote anything else worth reading and one day found The Mystery of the Sea on a Borders bookshelf. It became a cherished treasure.
While I was working in the intake/crisis department of a psychiatric hospital they built a new Borders just down the street. Several times a week a co-worker friend of mine and I would take our breaks and run down to the store, often returning with books, magazines or CD’s to share. I remember rushing out to buy the very creepy thriller The Church of Dead Girls after reading an article about it. We came back to work and I immediately began reading it (it was a slow night). After finishing I passed it on to her so that she could share the shudders that the novel induced in me. I better stop there or I could do multiple posts just recollecting purchases and memories.
When I moved to the Kansas City area, Borders was a place of familiarity. Having left good friends behind, it was comforting to step into the local Borders just to get my bearings. As time added new friends one of our frequent stops on outings was one or more of the various Borders locations that dotted the landscape.
People despise chain bookstores because they put the many local independent booksellers out of business. I can understand the sentiment and part of me is right there in solidarity with those who hold those feelings. But chain stores also brought books at great savings to areas where people didn’t have a worthwhile bookstore to visit. One frequent comment I read on Twitter this past week is the fact that now so many people will have to drive miles and miles to get to a bookstore. It is sad when chains drive out mom and pops. That personal touch doesn’t often come with the chain mentality. But that is the way our economy works. Big businesses with buying power can open more locations and offer deeper discounts. And if you love to give into the temptation to add books to your collection, getting more bang for your buck is often a lure more powerful than loyalty to a store that has to sell at cover price. The sad reality is that independent bookstores are not going to fill the void left by the closing of these final 400 Borders locations. It may happen in isolated places and some existing stores may thrive for a time because of the lack of competition, but the fact remains that this is a blow for those of us who would forgo the discounts found online and would prefer to browse and buy at a store location.
I am fortunate in that, for now, I have a Barnes and Noble that I drive past every day on the way to work. It is a store I frequent often and they have a really good selection of the books that I like to read. But I will miss having a Borders in close proximity. One standout quality of Borders was that they often stocked hard cover and trade paperback copies of science fiction and fantasy titles even after the mass market paperback was released. That Borders store also stocked more of the second/third tier SFF authors and frequently shelved new releases faster than Barnes and Noble. I am certainly not inconvenienced more than many other bookstore patrons, but I am sad nonetheless.
My sadness increases exponentially when I think of all the people who have lost jobs. It isn’t just because the economy is bad and jobs are hard to find. It is because, for many of them, working in a bookstore was their passion. I feel sorry for those who worked their way up to management in a bookstore if that was their dream, because continuing on with that dream is unlikely to occur. I myself, having been infected by the joy of working in a bookstore in my early 20’s, harbored a dream of returning to that on a part time basis when I retire. Unfortunately the age of digital books is rapidly rendering the brick and mortar bookstore a thing of the past. My only hope is that it holds off as long as possible.
On Friday morning last week I joined the vultures who descended on Borders as the doors opened on their liquidation sale. I have to admit that I was taken aback by the number of people who were lined up outside the door to pick the store clean. However that was nothing in comparison to the crowds on Saturday when I stopped by after having breakfast down the street with a friend. The line at the checkout counter went almost all the way to the back of the store. No amount of book lust could compel me to wait in that kind of line. I imagine the people behind the counter were thinking “where were you people before?”. Those thoughts are misguided, in my opinion. First off, I never go into Barnes and Noble nor did I ever go into Borders and see it empty. Both of my local stores were always filled with people and it is rare that I don’t have to wait in some kind of line. Although company-wide this might not be the case my anecdotal evidence is that both of my local chain stores were doing alright. Borders as a company made some really poor decisions. Farming out their online sales to Amazon was the first nail in the coffin. Not developing their own ereader was the other. And I suspect expansion of stores beyond the needs of the market was another. At one time we had two Borders stores in Kansas City within 2 miles of each other. That is poor planning.
As I stated, I was one of the vultures last week. I decided that 20% off was enough of a discount to allow me to spend a little money on books that I could hand pick myself rather than having to order them online in the future. I came home with these (including my Wed. night purchase and a book I bought with an expiring coupon last week from B&N):
I have been slowly collecting these versions of the Ian Fleming Bond books but only as I’ve read them. This was too nice of a copy to pass up. At this point I should probably track down all the ones I’m missing before they get difficult to locate in this format in good condition.
From Russia with Love is my favorite (thus far) of Ian Fleming’s Bond books. I am also fond of these Penguin Ink series. They are a more sturdy paperback with fold in covers that also include artwork. In addition they are bound with that technique that leaves the fore edge of the paper at different lengths. Some one will have to help me with the technical term for that. I like it when publishers create books in that fashion.
I have wanted to pick up a copy of this book for years and finally decided to add it to my collection. I am a fan of Charles de Lint’s work and am rarely disappointed. Kailana and I were supposed to buddy read this one last year and I failed her. She gave it high marks and I feel pretty confident that I will enjoy it when I get to it.
I enjoyed The Alchemy of Stone so much that I have been collecting Ekaterina Sedia’s novels ever since, despite being very far behind on reading them. This is her latest and it sounds like an interesting blend of alternate history and steampunk.
John Scalzi posted about this book in his Big Idea last week. Ann Vandermeer’s description of it was tantalizing, but not nearly as much as actually picking up the book and thumbing through it. The book is chock full of illustrations from a number of artists. It truly looks like a cabinet of curiosities. I resisted buying it earlier last week, and then gave in at the start of the liquidation sale.
So many people have praised this book that I can no longer recall where I first heard about it. I am drawn to the cover every time I am in a bookstore and I have read and enjoyed a few of the author’s short stories in the past. Shades of Milk and Honey was nominated in this year’s Nebula awards for best novel.
Several SFF bloggers praised Retribution Falls in year-end “Best Of” lists so it would have been on my radar even if it hadn’t had a stunning Stephan Martiniere cover. But that is a nice bonus. This series came out in hard cover in England much earlier and are now making their way over here in trade paperback. The second in the series is due out this week.
I am sure this will not be the last time I set foot in my Borders before it closes its doors for good, but the chances of me coming out with a pile of books diminishes with each passing day. I am not the carnal lover of books that Anne Fadiman claims to be. Mine is a love that requires me to treat the physical object with great care. Already on Saturday books were askew and I found myself straightening several books in the hopes of prolonging their undamaged existence. When it comes to treating books with kindess in a bookstore, many people are animals. I do have a few more books I will look at when the discounts increase, but I know that the chaos I will be stepping into next time I cross the threshold will not be the bookstore I enjoyed these past 13 years that I’ve lived in Missouri.
I feel your pain, Carl. I didn’t grow up with a Borders, but we had a Waldenbooks and a Books-a-Million equally far from home. And then I went to college in the big city and discovered Borders, B&N, and a smattering of mom & pop shops. The icing on the cake, though, was definitely Borders. I’m not sure what it was about that store that so enthralled me, but I greatly preferred it to any other bookstore, chain or otherwise. Since my discovery, Borders was my main supplier of books, even after I graduated and moved to a different city. The closest Borders was an hour away, but that mattered not. I was too invested. Sadly, this store was killed with the first swipe of the axe.
I shall miss Borders.
Great post, Carl.
Logan, I feel like a bit of a whiny baby complaining that I no longer have TWO bookstores to choose from within close driving distance, but I want to complain anyway! I would venture to see that close to half of my brick and mortar purchases were from Borders and that was because they were either offering better coupons or they were the only store that had what I wanted in stock or both. I do really love my Barnes and Noble, it is a great store, but I want both and am sad that I no longer can have what I want.
Borders is the only large Brick-and-mortar book store in my area. Yes, I’m lucky enough to have Powell’s here, but it’s a goodly drive and parking downtown is difficult at times and always costly. I avoided the crowds Fri-Sun, but will drop by today. I have a short list of things to look for, if they are gone, so be it. I’ll miss them but I guess it just means Amazon will get more business from me. It’s all the more important to have Amazon Prime now. I don’t pay sale tax either way (none in Oregon) so the shipping would be a problem without it.
I’m sorry to hear that Richard. I’ve heard good things, and not just from you, about Powell’s, but a discount is a discount and being able to buy more books for less money is one of the things I look for when I shop. I will hate to have to increase my use of Amazon. I like their prices but their packing service here in MO leaves much to be desired. Sending back at least half of what I buy for replacement gets old. I also don’t buy unless I have enough to get the free shipping. I was sad to see Amazon bought the Book Depository, because their prices were good and they offered free shipping regardless of how much was spent. I can see why Amazon decided to eliminate that competition.
You got some good ones.
It’s sad to see any bookstore close.
Yes it is. I would have much rather purchased all these books over the course of the year from a store that was still open. I actually saved less money on them than I normally do at Borders but wanted to snag them before they were either gone or destroyed.
Soooo, let me get this straight, you were working in the intake/crisis department of a psychiatric hospital, and you purchased The Church of Dead Girls on your *break*?? That could be a book in itself Carl…lol
I’m sorry about your Borders 🙁 but I’m glad you found some great books on sale 😀
Ha! Yes indeed! I’ll blame my friend who was really into true crime and serial killers for handing me the article in the first place. It was actually a book that was well-written but I wouldn’t recommend it. Not my kind of thing, really.
I’ll be curious to see your review of “Some Place to Be Flying.”
I’m lucky enough to live in the DC area, so I have my pick of chain bookstores, independent bookstores, and used bookstores. I feel bad for the people who don’t have any nearby bookstores left. The one advantage that Borders had (despite generally being more expensive than Barnes & Noble, oddly enough) is that it had a much wider selection of sci-fi/fantasy, even though it wasn’t restocked nearly as often. I went to Borders this weekend and picked over that section, and I’ll probably have to make another trip at some point.
I had started reading it for the buddy read and was enjoying it but got sidetracked by other books that were demanding my attention. I have read short stories featuring some of the main characters in it and have liked them (the stories AND the characters) so I don’t think it is too big a stretch to imagine I’ll like the book. Hope I am right. 🙂
I didn’t find Borders any more expensive than B&N. Usually less so because they had bigger percentage off coupons and normally that is the only time I bought there. That and I have both membership cards with the 10% off. I do like the upgrades BN made to its membership over the last year. I’m hoping the removal of this competition does not cause them to decrease their discounts, coupons, etc.
I showed you mine, time for you to show me yours: what did you liberate from the liquidation sale?
“Rhapsody” by Elizabeth Haydon
“Thomas the Rhymer” by Ellen Kushner
“The Telling” by Ursula K. Le Guin
“Homeland” by R.A. Salvatore
“Clash of Kings” by George Martin
“Way of Kings” for the readalong
I’m excited. Basically I didn’t leave the sci-fi/fantasy section at all.
I didn’t venture far from the SFF section, since mystery was right next to it. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your finds. I used to have Thomas the Rhymer but I’m not sure if it is still downstairs or not. Love the cover.
I’m really curious about it; it seems to have potential.
If I remember right, the reason I picked it up was because of the combination of the Kinuko Y. Craft cover (on the version I have) and a Neil Gaiman quote.
I picked it up because I tend to enjoy fantasy based on legends or fairy tales that are told in a more in-depth manner. Books like that can be a lot of fun.
Borders closed in England a few years ago, I loved the one in Cambridge – a big four storey building which had a piano and often hired someone to play on a Saturday afternoon. In Cambridge there is several large book shops – some bookchains and a few local really developed stores, but Borders still had much more choice for magazines, graphic novels, fantasy etc the areas the other bookstores seem to overlook. The only thing I found they lacked was the academic texts that the other stores excelled in having researched their market.
I now live in a town with just one small bookstore, the choice is minimal (they struggle to fill one bookcase with poetry and plays – facing face out!) so most of my buying has to be done online. I miss the hours I could spend in Borders, gazing and finding something new.
Katarina: Your recollections make me sad. While it is fun to get packages in the mail when they contain books, nothing can take the place of the experience of leisurely time spent in the bookstore. I have been in my local Borders during times when they had singers playing in the cafe, local artists taking advantage of a little exposure to anyone who would listen. That too is now lost.
I know what you mean when you say the big business drives out mom and pop stores (on one hand), and it’s true that we’ll probably love the small, personal ones best. But I loved Borders for creating a cozy niche for my son and I; I especially remember the respite we would find there after his father died, sitting with our books, hot chocolate, and one another. It’s where we attended all the big Harry Potter parties on Release Day, and I mean BIG where we live. My local Borders also did a tremendous job of honoring teachers with huge discounts.
I had the same feeling you did when you noticed the long lines and thought, “Weren’t the clerks wishing it was this crowded before??” So very sad that there will be so many people out of work now…
When we’re faced with the demise of even a bookstore, I’ve lost all confidence in our consumer world. Which I never gave much honor in the first place. Soon we’ll be reduced to a people which no longer knows how to write in cursive nor turn a page. Barbaric, in my opinion.
It is barbaric. I heard some stories the other day about children who couldn’t read something that was written down because they were not taught cursive. There are arts that should not be lost. While they may seem on the surface to be no longer necessary, their presence means something much deeper than just whether or not they are useful. They say something about our soul.
There were Borders in Kansas City that did big Harry Potter release days as well. As much as I love the look and feel of my Barnes and Noble they have not been as proactive with the social activities and I hope they develop that kind of connection with the community in the absence of Borders.
As all this happens I cannot help but think about You’ve Got Mail happening in reverse, only the end result of this is no bookstores to shop at.
I’m probably the only person I know of that still prefers to write in cursive over manuscript. There’s just something about it…
I used to have much nicer penmanship, but my writing now is a mix of cursive and regular writing. And it is very sloppy.
I did drop by Borders. No line inside or out, but I’d say between 30 and 50 percent of the stock was gone, lots of empty shelving. I asked what will happen to the physical assets and was told they will go to the liquidator. I could have seen some of the smaller units or tables here in the house. Drat. I bought 4 books, one from my want list, the others just things I think I’ll enjoy. The sad trick is that they were all just 10 percent off, not the 40 percent the advertising indicated. Only a very small section was the full discount.
That will probably be my last visit to that store, and maybe to a large chain bookstore. That’s a damn sad thing, it is.
Did you ask if they would offer to sell the shelves or tables? I thought someone told me that they had offered that when some of the Borders closed earlier this year. I would think they would get more money out of them selling to individuals than a liquidator would get from them.
I heard a lot of people in the store talk about the 40%, but every ad I saw, online and in the paper and outside the store clearly said “UP TO 40% off”. The things that were 40% off were the magazines. One day I’m sure the books will get up to that but they will be far too picked over at that point. I would like to go back to see if there are any nice copies of the Aubrey and Maturin books because I only have the first two and I would like the entire set.
Did you post about what you bought yet? I’m interested. 🙂
It is sad Richard, very sad.
I’m with you, Carl…we had a really cool new Borders here that was in an old New Orleans funeral home building that was abandoned. They moved in there…but they’re gone now 🙁 So sad. And I feel so much for all of those that lost their jobs. On a positive note, you got some AWESOME books!! I almost picked up Cabinet of Curiosities myself the other night…but I didn’t. I actually almost picked up that same DeLint too!! And the new Sedia sounds really good. AND you’ve made me order a copy of The Church of Dead Girls :p Found a copy on paperback swap..sounds good!
Chris: Church of Dead Girls, as much as I can recollect, kept me riveted to the page. I didn’t take long to read it. How cool that your Borders had made good use of an abandoned building, and how sad that it will be abandoned again. There are going to be a lot of open, empty stores that the owners are going to have a hard time finding occupants for.
I believe that, with Borders closing, other than religious bookstores, the only new bookstore is the Vanderbilt bookstore. we’ve got several used bookstores but still…it is sad. I work right next to a Barnes and Noble and I hope they stay in business.
Melanie: I hope mine does as well. I would really be in mourning if that were to close.
I live in a small town that had 2 books stores. One sold new and used books and comics. The other was part of a chain called “The Book Store”. The first closed years ago. The second shut down last year. It is like a part of me died with them. I have so many memories of finding hidden treasures at both of them. Now the closest store is a Barnes and Noble that is 40 miles away. I enjoy going there but it is not the same as having a local store that I can stop at when I have a bad day at work. Fortunately we now have our blogging friends to help us find new books.
40 miles! Wow, that is really sad, Jim. There is a part of me that began dying at the end of last year when the digital book market took a bigger leap than people predicted, and now seeing bookstores close just puts one more nail in the coffin. I don’t want the world to be digital. I want the best of both worlds and it is said that the almighty dollar is ensuring that this will not be the case. Or I should say the pursuit of the almighty dollar.
Lovely post. It did remind me of what Ray Oldenburg writes about “the third” place, a place outside of your or friend’s place that gets so important, it feels like home.
And some interesting books you got. I need to look them up, I hadn’t heard of Shades of Milk and Honey.
Bookstores definitely feel like home, Caroline. And/or a little slice of heaven.
Shades of Milk and Honey does sound good. A mixture of period piece fiction and some fantasy elements.
Enjoy your new books! I miss book shopping sprees, but I try not to have them anymore. It’s not like I have any shortage of things to read!
I try not to have them often, Kailana. It is rare that I buy more than one book at a time, especially at Borders where I often shopped with a coupon that was only good for one book. That was part of the fun though, deciding just which book would come home.
I’m going to miss browsing sprees even more. I often come away from bookstore visits with books to look up at the local library.
I’d be more broken up about Borders but there’s none close by let alone in Vero Beach. We have no Barnes and Noble either closest one is two or three towns away. We have a “Books a Million” store, but it just isn’t the greatest. We also have a local book store that’s beautiful to walk around but top prices and never any sales, and then there the used book place. Unfortunately Amazon takes the bulk of my business and yes all of a sudden their packing leaves much to be desired…and they know it because now they ask “hows the shipping?” I’ve let them know each time.. like they aren’t rich enough they had to stop the shrinkwrap that protected the books?? Pathetic.
Deslily: Sounds like you are dealing with what I’ve been dealing with here for years. I refuse to let them get away with it though and I’ll keep re-ordering the book (its their cost, not mine) until I get one that is in good shape. I rarely have to send a book back more than once and I always keep the old one until the new one arrives. I still order from them, largely because they are the cheapest, but I try not to have to do it too often. I’m happy a place like that exists, but I wish they would care a little more about service.
as all business’s they get greedy.. make more money faster. That is always beyond my comprehension, even though I certainly know how fast time passes and how little time I have on this planet. Not sure whatever happened to “slow and steady wins the race”, but greed seems to always win out.
There’s nothing like the smell and atmosphere in a book store, or holding that new book in your hands, and it’s sad it’s disappearing so quickly.
Yes it does, Deslily. I also sometimes wonder what happened to the attitude of doing it right the first time. When Amazon shrink wraps books it is obvious that it is an automated process and I cannot imagine why they wouldn’t want to do that rather than spend the cost to mail replacements, etc. Maybe in the end the cost factor is not that great and the fact that they have no real competition to their physical book sales means they can afford to let shipping quality slip. After all, there are a lot of people that don’t care because they beat the hell out of their books when they read them anyway.
and…
the more chain bookstores that go out of business.. the more people will buy from Amazon.. with choices gone they pretty much can all all the shots.
(don’t get me wrong ..because of the lack of money on my part I use amazon and will continue to..doesn’t mean I can’t complain lol)
I’m with you on the right to complain. We shouldn’t have to pay someone to treat us like a statistic instead of valued customers.
hmmmm. Well I guess the Amazon Shipping Dept. in Kentucky gets high marks then cause the bulk of my purchases comes from that address and they shrink wrap everything to individual backing boards and then pack them into the box. Haven’t had a return or complaint yet.
We had no local Borders or small mom & pop stores around here. Figure the closest one is in Little Rock, but, I mourn the loss of ANY bookstore. The only way for me to buy books locally is one grocery store that does a GREAT job of stocking paperbacks with a 15% discount everyday or flea markets. The closest bookstores are a B & N and a really bad Books-A-Million about 25 miles away in the next town over. I try to stay out of there because everytime I go over I spend at least $80 -$150 on books and magazines.
If I ever win the Publisher’s Clearinghouse my dream would be to open a small new & used bookstore in a brownstone in our downtown area. It’s something this town is missing and would add to their drive to rejuvenate the downtown historical area.
Sgist: You are indeed fortunate. It used to be that way with our Amazon distributor, but about 4 years ago or so it took a dramatic downward turn. Rarely are books shrink wrapped. They are almost always thrown loosely into a box that is too big for them and then a couple of air packs are tossed on top of them. They then slide back and forth getting beat to heck during shipping. Then, when I request a replacement, the book arrives shrink wrapped. I don’t understand that kind of logic, but it has happened to me dozens upon dozens of times over the years.
I think a lot of us share that same dream. And I too mourn the closing of any bookstore. I hope the small, independent bookstores that exist now can continue to find ways to stay profitable enough to stay open. They fill an important niche, made even more important by the loss of Borders.
oh yeah I knew I was forgetting one! they have a Hastings in that town also but it’s struggling…
I’m one of the lucky ones with a choice — I have a B&N close to my house. If this ever disappears though, we’ll have a hard time getting books here in Southern California. We are thought of as a “land of consumer plenty” over here, but our options are limited to about the same 5 big box stores and the only one of those for books now is B&N. Used and indie bookstores can’t stay in business over here. Sad. I felt like a vulture picking over a dead carcass when I went in to my local Borders the other day. It was a rather painful experience, especially seeing the chaos that the customers were creating with books being left in piles and getting damaged. I didn’t stay long.
Terri B: I’m so torn about going back. On one hand I have no need to spend the money. On the other I don’t know if I can bear the horror that is sure to await me in seeing the picked over chaos of the store.
I cannot imagine the agony I’ll feel if my Barnes and Noble closes. First off I just love the decor more than I did my local Borders. I like the dark woods and the mood of the store more. But more importantly it is what I have left as far as a place to buy new books.
We are fortunate in that we have another killer of the small bookstores here, Half Price Books. It is a chain used bookstore and they often have a good selection and decent prices. The only bad thing about it is that it is not easy to find hard cover or trade SFF books in great condition.
I have not posted what I bought, that will be in my weekly Sunday night or Monday morning New Arrivals post. But just for you and your readers, Carl: The Mystery of Ireta by Anne McCaffrey, Sword of Fire and Sea by Erin Hoffman and two gardening books, one on conifers and one on the wild garden. The Hoffman was the one on my want list.
Side note: there was only one copy of a George R.R. Martin books, an older paperback with a fairly beat-up cover. The Y.A. section was 2/3 gone, but there was lots of Ronald Dahl, and in the SF-F section lots of Poul Anderson.
Oh and when I said the liquidator is selling the physical assets, that’s also who is running the selling of everything as of the bankruptcy now.
Thanks for the preview Richard, look forward to seeing the pics of the covers when you post at the end of the week. Given Martin’s popularity right now it doesn’t surprise me that his books went quickly. There are a lot of people, I would imagine, coming to the series new because of the HBO series.
So does that mean you as an individual cannot make an offer on the bookshelves or tables or anything?
That was my impression, yes.
That’s too bad. They have some nice, sturdy fixtures.
The Borders near me closed a few months ago. I went once to get some deals. Then I went back. I continued this process until the doors closed. I was able to add some books I had my eye on for quite sometime but I couldn’t justify the price. The sale prices gave me the go ahead to buy them. It was the closing of Borders that prompted me to itemize all of my books because I couldn’t remember all the books that I owned.
On a different note, I used to work at Borders. When I moved to Boston I had a hard time finding a job the first few months so I applied at Borders. I thought it would be fun to work in a bookstore. I didn’t factor in that Borders is a corporation. I didn’t like their pressure tactics. You probably have a Rewards card, but I don’t know if you know, if employees have low numbers of scanning a Rewards card or signing up new people they are in serious trouble. Each week we would have to check our numbers and see if we were doing an acceptable job. It was stressful. Not everyone wants a card. They even talked to one person who had really low numbers. I don’t know if they threatened her job, but they caused her a lot of stress. It was horrible to watch.
I do feel for my friends who still worked at the store when they closed the doors.
Any company that has rewards cards of any kind pressures their employees to pressure the customers. I’m not sure if Waldenbooks started the rewards card thing in the US, but I don’t recall bookstores having them before we got them and had to start selling them. It was the only part of my job that I did not enjoy, unless it was Christmas because then often people were buying so much that their discount would basically get them the card free.
What I always liked about the Borders card, up until this last year, was that it was free. I wouldn’t feel as bad about pitching customers for a card they didn’t have to pay for. It wasn’t even bad this last year when the plus membership was only 10 bucks.
My daughter works at a discount club and they pressure them to sell plus memberships and credit cards. It is sad, really.
I was lucky since I never had to work during a Christmas rush. I don’t think I would like that time of year in retail. I was surprised by how many people did not want a free rewards card. I feel for your daughter!
I hate being asked to sign up for credit cards, membership cards, etc. just about anywhere I go anymore. I hate being asked for my zip code, email address, etc. almost anytime I made I make a purchase. It aggrivates me to no end. I usually refuse. I do feel bad for the employees because I know they are being made to spit these scripts to customers but it still ticks me off. Businesses are so greedy. It’s not enough that I’m making an actual purchase instead of walking out the door with nothing. They now want to analyze me more or try to suck more out me on the way out the door. ARGH!!!
As for Borders it kills me that they are closing as I have one a mile from my house that I have visited many times a month over the last seven years. I always just loved being to stop in and browse which usually lead to purchases. Now I will have to drive out of my way to get to a BN. I know now that my book store shopping will go down along with my purchases with no store right by my house. It makes me sad.
I’m also worried now as essentially we are down to just one chain left to get book’s at in the Kansas City area. We have no indpendent book stores and only a few used book stores. If BN goes we will be out of the book buying market essentially. To think a city the size of Kansas City could drop down to only being able to pick up new books at Wal-mart or the local grocery stores is incredibly depressing to a reader.
Damn Carl! This has to be one of the most depressing blog posts you’ve ever had. May it be long time before you post of the closing of BN stores. I think that the clocks only going to start ticking faster now with the growth of ebooks. Don’t get me started on ebooks. I just can’t take any more depressing talk today. 🙁
It is a depressing post and it is a depressing state of affairs right now for those who love books. It is very scary/sad to think of a city the size of Kansas City with only a handful of brick and mortar bookstores. It already isn’t good. I now have one bookstore close to me. The next closest is a 25 minute drive to the plaza area or a 30-45 minute drive to the BN you’ll have to go to if you want to go to a “local” bookstore. Barnes and Noble’s only hope of maintaining brick and mortar stores is that the Nook continues to sell well and that they use their store space to attract people to buy Nooks in the store rather than online and that they provide the kind of customer service experience that the Apple stores do so people will keep coming in. Hopefully between that and traditional book sales they will continue to see a profitable reason to keep stores open. At least for awhile longer.
It will also be interesting to see if individual store managers and/or Barnes and Noble as a whole chooses to use what happened to Borders as inspiration to be more creative with getting customers into the store. The bottom line is how much the company cares about having a storefront presence and I hope they continue to find a viable reason to do so.
I actually think that Borders closing might be what helps B&N stay in business. Since they’re now the major chain bookstore, their business might perk up a bit. I think that the market for chain bookstores was pretty much balanced until e-books and Amazon gained such popularity. Having one less chain might be what ensures the survival of those left, because there are still faithful book people out there. Also, B&N gives all online shoppers their member discount, which allows its online sales to be able to compete with Amazon’s prices.
I certainly hope that is the case. For purely selfish reasons I want them to have increased success and justification for continued brick and mortar presences.
I’m with Jeff on the rewards card thing. When we bought a new washer and dryer at Sears when we got to Portland, they practically made it a condition of the sale and tried to say they could only give us the free delivery (part of their no-strings promotion) if we signed up. I had to lean on them back to get the delivery and hook-up their huge newspaper ad promised. As for Borders Rewards, we had one but since it was the free one it’s cancelled, they said only the paid card entitles the extra 10%.
I’m going to go back and ask the Manager about the fixtures, as it was a floor employee who told me “no”.
I’ll be curious to hear what you find out from the manager.
I don’t mind membership cards if the sales are low pressure and if I get a benefit out of it. I’ve had a Barnes and Noble membership for years and although it costs $25 a year, I more than get my money’s worth out of it and save much more than it costs me to purchase. Do I wish they just offered the same discounts to everyone? Yes, of course.
The thing about my BN is that I’ve never heard them high pressure anyone. They ask quickly and politely, point out what savings might be had and then move on. Takes about 10-15 seconds. That kind of thing is perfectly okay to me. It lets you know it exists and gives you the option and after that there is no pressure. What is sad though is that I am sure the employees are pressured to meet some kind of quota.
Yes, I blame e-books much more than Amazon or other on-line sellers. And, I love to BROWSE and that’s a hands-on thing.
Online sellers like Amazon certainly had an effect, but companies still had a relatively level playing field. They might not have had the buying power of Amazon, but they could be creative to try to gain back those sales through their own online outlets, etc.
When it comes to ebooks, there is no level playing field, because the battle isn’t just between rival ebook readers, it is also a battle between ebooks and books themselves. In a tech savvy, tech hungry culture the traditional has little chance to come out on top. Add to that the incredible reduction of overhead/production costs that publishers get from “publishing” ebooks vs. traditional books and the books that so many of us love (I don’t consider ebooks to be “books”)don’t stand a chance.
it’s terribly sad… 🙁 borders has been there at so many stages of your life. and you’ve discovered so many books through them.
i can very much relate – in south africa the bookstores are so small and so when i came to england it was like i’d landed in heaven with the huge bookstores here. borders was the first one i walked into and up until it closed it was my absolute favourite!
JP, I have often wanted to visit England just to do a massive bookstore tour! I’m sorry yours closed up as well.
I’m with Richard in I also like to browse. I was just saying to Carl the other day that you can’t browse and discover things on Amazon like you can in a real bookstore. On Amazon you have to know what you want to search for. There are no virtual shelves where you scan and thumb through books. No chance to have some cool cover catch your eye. The shopping experience online for me is no fun at all.
I for one think the closing of Borders will hurt B&N in the long run. If there are less places out there to buy books then I think it lowers their importance. People will gravitate to other activities that are found easier such as DVD’s and video games. I see electronic entertainment and ebooks only growing more with less brick and mortar stores for people to actually find books.
I can’t see B&N staying open the way they are now for another 5 years unless they find a way to evolve. I see them downsizing and cutting back to just carrying the top titles. I hope I’m wrong but my gt tells me I’m not wrong. The cost of materials for books will only continue to increase over time while the cost of ebook readers will only drop over time like all other electronic devices. It’s truly only a matter of time until hard copy books are only made in limited numbers for a collectible marketable as any mass market titles will be ebook only.
I certainly think BN and any other existing brick and mortar stores, as well as libraries, are going to have to get creative and very savvy if they are hoping to continue to have a store front presence in communities for the long term.
Browsing in bookstores and libraries is one of the great joys of being an avid reader and a book lover. I could walk my bookshelves and list title after title that I have discovered over the years simply because I was walking the aisles and “letting the spirit lead me”. It isn’t that I haven’t also discovered wonderful books online, thanks to book bloggers and the occasional random stumbling across some book listing on an online site, but the experience is much more rare and it is simply not the same experience.
More than any other thing in my life, the rise of ebooks and the rapid demise of brick and mortar stores and worries about the demise of printed books makes me feel like I am getting old. I love technology and no one who knows me could accuse me of not indulging deeply in my inner child, as I frequently play video games, text, use social networking site, blog, etc. However, I am very old fashioned, and proud of it, when it comes to the format that I want to use to read stories.
Damn if I’m not all doom and gloom today.
I think my gut feeling of Rose’s upcoming fate in the Dr Who episodes I’m watching for the very first time has got me way too sad. I’m about to finish season 2 and I just know things aren’t going to well and I’m going to need a tissue. 🙁
*hands Jeff a tissue* yep, sorry buddy, you’re going to need it.
I think you’ll need a box of tissues, and perhaps counseling.
I totally agree with Richard & Jeff, I’m an inveterate browser. I may walk into the store with one or two books in mind to look for…but, i’ll end up with 12 books, 8 U.K. edition magazines, a couple of U.S. magazines (or more) and usually a chai latte and a rice-crispy treat to boot! sometimes if B&N is having a good enough sale i’ll add dvd’s or cd’s to that pile also. That’s how i aquired the first 3 collected seasons of the new Dr. Who. B&N was having a buy 2 seasons get the third free on DVD boxsets and the first 2 seasons were discounted. 😀
As so many of us have stated, there just isn’t any online experience comparable to browsing in a brick and mortar bookstore. I don’t think society as a whole realizes what they are losing.
A society without bookstores. That is a sad thought.
Thanks for the tissue and I love rice-crispy treats as well. 🙂
Me too! 🙂
I too agree that it is sad. I work (sort of since I just had a baby) at B&N and so I never went to Borders but they do (did) have great deals and I love perusing. I am sad for the employees – as I know that working at a bookstore isn’t about the paycheck but about the love of books. As a library science major, I do hope people start discovering or re-discovering the wonders of the public library. And possibly hopefully it will open the market back up to smaller book stores. I personally love collecting books which is why I don’t own an e-reader.
Amanda: I have so many fond memories of working at a bookstore, and I would love to have worked for one as large as my local B&N. It definitely is not about the paycheck. I suspect any of the really kind and helpful booksellers are woefully underpaid.
People definitely need to visit their local libraries with a passion and check out materials. Even those with e-readers need to utilize the library to download books. A busy library may be the only defense against cuts and even that may not work, but it is certainly worth trying.
My local Borders closed a few months ago. It was one of those stores that I have been frequenting since it first opened. Many of the staff knew me by name… probably a bad sign 🙂 It was a great retreat with a large quiet coffee lounge where I’d sit and read, or even use their wi-fi. Yet I knew a few years back that things were not healthy. They started reducing stock and moving sections downstairs.
I expect half my new books were bought there. I am sad to see it go. I did purchase a large supply to keep me going. Also discounted coffee…
I do have some other local stores, but Borders was the best designed.
Ha! I have the same thing at my local BN. There are a couple of them that know me well enough to know that I lost my membership card and that they have to get my phone number to look it up.
About 9-10 months ago they rearranged my local Borders and I loved the way they did it, especially the children’s, Teen, and SFF sections. They were very nicely arranged and they did such a good job of displaying new books as well as recommended books.
Even though there was a Borders 30 minutes from house, I still preferred to drive an hour to get to Powell’s, and what I couldn’t get from Powell’s I bought from Amazon. Amazon has been great for people in rural areas, but like other posters have said, you have to know what you are buying. I just never really liked Borders, especially when the new store caused 2 of my favorite Mom & Pop used stores to fold, unable to compete with the shiny new superstore. But what comes around, goes around, I guess. Instead of finding a way to co-exist, everybody loses in this case.
I did visit Borders a few times to browse through their Photoshop books (to see if there was something useful inside), or to buy giant $7.99 sale books like “Castles of Spain” after opening the book and looking through the glorious pictures. Those things I can’t do when shopping from Amazon, and I will miss it…
B.T.
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The problem is that in today’s economy where everyone wants something cheap (and I’m no different) I don’t see how mom and pop bookstores could survive. I miss some of the used stores that closed because they couldn’t compete with Half Price Books, but I still go to HPB because they often have a good selection and good prices. Same with Borders when it came to new books. I think we are all losing out with these stores closing.
Never had much love for Borders either BUT i take it as a negative indicator for that people read less and less books. kindles are still not mainstram afaik. cheers
It doesn’t thrill me either. I really liked our Borders even though it was not my first choice when I went book shopping. But less brick and mortar bookstores are not a good thing for readers, no matter how you slice it.