The End Of An Era - BORDERS closing remaining stores

[BoomerD]

It's about time we closed the Borders...Way too many illegal immigrants coming to this country and buying books...

 

[Kanalua]

CSB: I went B&N last night. Took my Nook Color. My wife was looking for a particular book. When she found what she was looking for (it was $19 in store, $15 at bn.com), I whipped out my Nook Color and bought the book on Amazon, used for $1.22 + $6 expedited shipping. Left without purchasing anything.

 

[ProfJohn]

This is bad for the book industry.

B&M stores are the best way for little known authors to get noticed.

Let's pray that we don't lose B&N.

 

[xanis]

This is bad for the book industry.

B&M stores are the best way for little known authors to get noticed.

Let's pray that we don't lose B&N.

I think B&N is going to be around for at least a little longer. They were fortunate enough to have the foresight to jump on the e-book train and stay with the times. Amazon, as Kanalua proved, is HUGE competition and very hard to beat. Why pay $15 when you could buy a lightly used copy for 50% or more off?

 

[gevorg]

First were the music stores, then video stores/rentals and now bookstores. Who's next?

 

[ProfJohn]

First were the music stores, then video stores/rentals and now bookstores. Who's next?

Bestbuy.

People walk into a bestbuy check out the TVs and then order them online at a lower price.

The company is already in the process of looking at its business decisions to compete better.

We could end up in a situation where major brands force online provides to sell items at a certain cost similar to what Apple does.

 

[shortylickens]

the end of an era of overpriced books/movies/music and poor customer service?

good riddance

Bingo.
Well, I never had a beef with the service.
But I grew up in the 80's and remember when good hardcovers were 10 bucks and paperbacks were 5.
Shit is out of control and if Amazon can undercut them by a mere ten percent they will get my business. In reality its more like eighty percent but still, the point has been made: No more fleecing.

 

[shortylickens]

This is bad for the book industry.

B&M stores are the best way for little known authors to get noticed.

Let's pray that we don't lose B&N.

And actually they are NOT the best way for little known authors to get noticed.
The little guys cant even get their books into paper format, the costs are just too damn high and publishers are only interested if you can sell at least a million copies.
Online distribution is the way for little guys to get published cuz it costs practically nothing and a super low sale price gets more folks interested in them.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Damn, gotta get rid of my gift cards now.

I have a $50 gift card myself but here in san francisco all the borders were closed several months ago. once a store is sold to the liquidators, they wont take gift cards anyway.

its sad borders is gone. they had a much higher quality selection of books than barnes and noble. even a couple months ago they had two nice stores downtown here. they were always crowded but i guess that didnt mean people were buying things from them. this will probably really hasten the disappearance of books, the only two big booksellers both have ereaders. i buy a lot of used books and a huge percentage of those books have borders stickers on the back so over the next year or so its bound to have a huge effect on the supply of used books as well. its not just the end of an era in book shopping, it the beginning of the end of the paper book era

 

[Gibson486]

Bestbuy.

People walk into a bestbuy check out the TVs and then order them online at a lower price.

The company is already in the process of looking at its business decisions to compete better.

We could end up in a situation where major brands force online provides to sell items at a certain cost similar to what Apple does.

That will never happen with non Apple (or non Bose for that matter) products. This requires retailers to sign a no competition agreement. Also, it would also be a loss for companies like Sony who would take huge losses. Under the fixed price strategy, when things go on clearance, the loss goes to the producer, not the retailer. Places like Walmart will not stand for it because they will no longer have buying power.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Bingo.
Well, I never had a beef with the service.
But I grew up in the 80's and remember when good hardcovers were 10 bucks and paperbacks were 5.
Shit is out of control and if Amazon can undercut them by a mere ten percent they will get my business. In reality its more like eighty percent but still, the point has been made: No more fleecing.

The nerve of these people. While we're at it to hell with car manufacturers. In the 70's you could get a new car for $6000. The fleecing must end.

 

[pontifex]

i blame the internet. nobody wants to read anymore. we are raising a dumb and uneducated society. hopefully they turn those empty Borders. stores into Gamestop shops

I love reading. I haven't been to a bookstore in a long time though. I usually order my books online, mostly through Amazon.

Doesn't help that the nearest bookstore (B&N) is 45 minutes away either. There is a Borders that's a couple minutes down the road from B&N but the B&N is easier to get to.

 

[BeauJangles]

This is bad for the book industry.

B&M stores are the best way for little known authors to get noticed.

Let's pray that we don't lose B&N.

Please, Borders was a mismanaged corporation that made a lot of terrible bets and bad decisions. They have only themselves to blame. Here are just a few of their problems:

They aimed to be both a book and music distributor, which seemed like a great idea in the early 90s. Unfortunately, this decision led them to rent absolutely enormous spaces which increased overhead. As the music end of their business faded away, they didn't adapt and just tried to shove books where the music was. This left them with stores that were too big and couldn't generate enough revenue per square foot.

In the late 90s and early 00s, they tried to overhaul their supply chain infrastructure to be more streamlined like B&N. They were unsuccessful and rather than trying to figure out why their supply chain sucked, they just threw good money after bad and kept trying to buy their way out of the problem. This left Borders' supply chain dysfunctional and cost them tens of millions of dollars.

When the internet came along, they ignored it. Then they got involved too late, after both Amazon and B&N had set themselves up as big players. They offered nothing new, nothing creative, and nothing distinctive.

When eReaders first started to get big Borders did.... drum roll please... zero! Then they partnered with Kobo a little over a year ago. Fail.

Borders has been a failboat for a long time. Companies that are mismanaged and make bad bets like they did deserve the fate that comes to them. I have no sympathy for an overpriced chain bookstore that failed to adapt or streamline their business to changing market conditions.

 

[purbeast0]

are they selling stuff cheap? i'd like to get some programming books if so.

 

[zoiks]

Not quite sure about that. Borders has insane markup on everything. And offer nothing in the way of e-books. They failed to evolve, and now they're going out of business.

I'll definitely be swinging by to pick up some books on the cheap.

Exactly. Businesses that don't evolve or adapt to modern times will eventually suffer and die out. Same thing is happening with the newspaper industry which is suffering since no one will buy newspapers anymore since all the information can be attained online.
It's the management direction and execution failure that killed the company.

 

[slayer202]

Borders has been a failboat for a long time. Companies that are mismanaged and make bad bets like they did deserve the fate that comes to them. I have no sympathy for an overpriced chain bookstore that failed to adapt or streamline their business to changing market conditions.

You make it seem like they "deserve" this because they are assholes or something. So maybe they made bad decisions. Not everyone can be a winner, they messed up. Surely they didn't want to end up like this, but shit happens. Its not like they are blockbuster worthless

 

[foghorn67]

I didn't think they were that overpriced as far as books go. I would go in with a coupon and a smartphone and compare prices with Amazon. Sometimes I would would walk out with a book.
I have no idea why folks here say Borders is overpriced, and B&N not getting the ATOT nerd wrath. B&N is more expensive around here.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Borders, at least here, is (was) one of the more expensive bookstores. Books-a-Million was cheaper, but B&M bookstores and libraries (minus their PC connected to the net) are going to eventually die off. Online book sellers and eventually ebooks will do them in, the times are changing.

 

[Alienwho]

Ebook readers absolutely own for casual and relaxation reading. I don't know what percentage of the market that is but I would bet it's the majority. You can not read a 500 page novel on a kindle and ever desire to go back to paperbacks again. The $120 I spent on my wife's kindle was the best money I have ever spent. (She has an unlimited amount of books at her disposal which keeps her occupied and gives me free time to pursue my own hobbies).

Ebook readers still aren't quite ideal for textbooks and reference books, but I'm sure that will change in the next few generations as they improve the method and speed of page hopping.

Borders has been a zombie (dead without even knowing it yet) for a decade now. They're not the first and won't be the last.

And LOL to the guy above who said these B&M shops are the only way small authors get noticed. You have got to be kidding me. What's easier, uploading your book to amazon or figuring out a way of printing hundreds of thousands of books?

 

[BeauJangles]

You make it seem like they "deserve" this because they are assholes or something. So maybe they made bad decisions. Not everyone can be a winner, they messed up. Surely they didn't want to end up like this, but shit happens. Its not like they are blockbuster worthless

You nailed it. I'm just trying to point out that most of their bankruptcy is their own doing. It sucks because the people that worked in the stores are going to lose their jobs and it sucks because a couple of borders locations were pretty nice, but the truth is that they saw a lot of this coming and ignored it.

 

[slayer202]

And LOL to the guy above who said these B&M shops are the only way small authors get noticed. You have got to be kidding me. What's easier, uploading your book to amazon or figuring out a way of printing hundreds of thousands of books?

the other guy may not be right, but you fail just as hard. hundreds of thousands of books? Oh yeah? And you think it makes it easier to get noticed when everyone and their dog can get their book on amazon?

 

[zinfamous]

You want a Pork Chop or something?

yo, I'll take that pork chop if Anubis doesn't claim it.

:whiste:

 

[Dulanic]

Damn, gotta get rid of my gift cards now.

I know others said they won't take them. However, I would try. When Circuit City shit the bed they accepted gift cards when they were going into liquidation. I know because I used the ones I had.

 

[dainthomas]

The nerve of these people. While we're at it to hell with car manufacturers. In the 70's you could get a new car for $6000. The fleecing must end.

Lol

 

[Capt Caveman]

And LOL to the guy above who said these B&M shops are the only way small authors get noticed. You have got to be kidding me. What's easier, uploading your book to amazon or figuring out a way of printing hundreds of thousands of books?

Book tours help a lot in promoting a book, especially if you're a small author.