Borders bankruptcy

the bunny hugger

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The Wall Street Journal is predicting Borders Bookstores will go into bankruptcy early next week. Borders denies this rumor, but most sources seem to believe WSJ.
 

Vito

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I can't even remember the last time I was at Border's. Musta been three or four years ago...
 

Caitlin Black

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Damn, that sucks. We have a Borders in the city here. When I used to go into the city, I used to love walking around Borders. I almost always walked out of there with something.

If they close down, there'll only be 1 book store in the city.

This is heartbreaking for me. Last year, my local book store closed down unexpectedly. Now I have to travel an hour by bus or an hour by train to get to the next 2 nearest book stores (city by train, different shopping centre by bus).

:(
 

Duchessmary

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This BITES. I love Borders, even though I'm too broke to go often. I can't imagine it fading away..
:cry:
 

darkprincealain

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I'm not a fan of the ones around here, but I prefer it remain open anyway. Competition is healthy. Seeing Barnes & Noble from one end of this place to another is not. Even if I do love them.
 

benbradley

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Obligatory story link: (ETA: I see it's in post#2)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704329104576138353865644420.html?KEYWORDS=borders

This is hardly a surprise, I recall there being rumblings of this for months, but it IS disappointing that the era of the Big Box Book Store may be over, only a decade or two after its great growth pretty much killed off most of the local and regional bookstores.

I must admit, most of the time I go to Borders or Barnes&Noble, it's for a NaNoWriMo write-in or similar event, not specifically to shop for books, though I've often browsed and occasionally bought books at such events. And often when I AM shopping for books, I write down the title/author and look for it new or used online (usually saving lots of money). I only buy if it's a brand new title and I decide not to wait (such as SuperFreakonomics in Nov 2009) or I find something interesting on clearance. Admittedly, I'm not a good customer, and clearly it has too few good customers.
 
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kayleamay

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The Borders around here closed last year but B&N still has plenty of competition from Powell's and other independents in this area. I would love to see more independent booksellers spring up.

My local DVD shop (aka Three Guys Who Know Have Seen Every Movie Ever Made) is booming since the close of Blockbuster and Hollywood. I hope it goes the same way for books.
 

Caitlin Black

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I like the chain book-stores. They can afford bigger stores, with better selections.

Most independent stores I've seen have been specialist-type stores. I've yet to find one that specialises in the genres I read (UF, science NF, comedy).

While the chain stores might not have every book I want, they can usually order them in special, and in any event they will almost always have at least some books I want.

Half the time when I go into the 2 independents near my house, I spend 20 minutes looking around and come out empty-handed. Neither of them have science NF. Both only stock the most popular UF. Neither has a comedy section.

So I hope with all my heart that the chain stores around Australia don't go under.

And it's such a pain in the butt trying to shop online without a credit card. Sure, I can use my Savings card, but I have to transfer money into PayPal from my Savings, which can take 10 business days. Such a pain. I only shop online for books that simply aren't available in Australia, such as certain AWer books.

/ramble
 

kayleamay

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I guess I'm spoiled. I live about ten minutes from Powell's City of Books. It's enormous and their selection is far more extensive than any chain I've ever been to. It's a three story maze and they sell new and used. It's teh awesome. (And is smells like old books. NIRVANA!)

I only have one thing to say, Cliff. Move to Portland. There. Problem solved. :D
 

kayleamay

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Even better, I have a "secret" room in my basement. It's unfinished and there might be a few creepy crawly things in there, but it's all yours. (Just don't tell the muppet. He's been complaining about the limited space under my bed for over a year now.)
 

benbradley

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The Borders around here closed last year but B&N still has plenty of competition from Powell's and other independents in this area. I would love to see more independent booksellers spring up.

My local DVD shop (aka Three Guys Who Know Have Seen Every Movie Ever Made) is booming since the close of Blockbuster and Hollywood. I hope it goes the same way for books.
I don't understand the DVD rental market. The Blockbusters in my area (like everywhere else, apparantly) closed a few months back, and within weeks reopened as a local DVD rental place. There's another one a half mile away that's been in business a few years too. Do locally operated stores know something Blockbuster didn't?
I guess I'm spoiled. I live about ten minutes from Powell's City of Books. It's enormous and their selection is far more extensive than any chain I've ever been to. It's a three story maze and they sell new and used. It's teh awesome. (And is smells like old books. NIRVANA!)

I only have one thing to say, Cliff. Move to Portland. There. Problem solved. :D
I've heard of Powell's for forever, and of Portland being "The Land of 10,000 Used Bookstores." Some day I may have to make a pilgrimage.

Atlanta had Oxford Book Store for many years/decades. It's "Oxford Too" was Atlanta's biggest used bookstore until it closed circa 1997, then the Oxford new stores closed. If all the Big Box stores close, I wonder what, if anything, will come back.
 

kayleamay

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I don't understand the DVD rental market. The Blockbusters in my area (like everywhere else, apparantly) closed a few months back, and within weeks reopened as a local DVD rental place. There's another one a half mile away that's been in business a few years too. Do locally operated stores know something Blockbuster didn't?

I've heard of Powell's for forever, and of Portland being "The Land of 10,000 Used Bookstores." Some day I may have to make a pilgrimage.

Atlanta had Oxford Book Store for many years/decades. It's "Oxford Too" was Atlanta's biggest used bookstore until it closed circa 1997, then the Oxford new stores closed. If all the Big Box stores close, I wonder what, if anything, will come back.

I think the advantage my local DVD store has is that it's literally three guys who love movies, an old building with cheap rent and they get to know their customers. It's more expensive than Redbox, but I'm will to pay an extra couple of bucks to keep the locals in business.

(As far as Portland goes, make that pilgrimage. Powell's is heaven on earth.)
 

Caitlin Black

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My favourite book store is in the city, an hour away by train.

Currently the trains aren't running, because they're upgrading the tracks. It's an hour and a half by bus...

But one day I'll go into the city and have my own mini-pilgrimage. I expect I'll only convince myself to go in once I've got $100 saved up, so I can really make it worth my while.

But that could be quite a while... seeing as how the next thing on my shopping list for "saved money" is a new bookcase. My current one is packed full, with some books having nowhere to sit.

But bookcases aren't cheap. I think my best bet will be Ikea, which will require me getting mum to drive me there one day. If she's ever free...
 

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Ok. So Borders has filed for Chap 11 protection and will be closing almost a 1/3 of their stores... 200 of 642 stores.

This is the bit of news from the article that piqued my writer's notice:

In addition, US book sales have been falling.
According to researcher Nielsen, which follows 70% of the US book market, book sales declined from 751 million to 717 million in 2010.
Borders closes 200 shops

That is quite a lot of lost sales. What I wonder is are they counting ebooks and books sold online or are those Nielsen numbers just coming from books sold through stores like Borders, B&N, etc? Are people in the US really buying fewer books? Is this a consistent trend year by year, or a once off bad year? And, if it is true that people are buying fewer books, how will that affect me as a writer?

Questions. All I ever have are questions...
 

vrabinec

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Places like Borders are being replaced by Sam's Club and Costco for sales of new stuff, and if anyone wants old stuff, they can can go on line and get it. I doubt fewer books will sell because of this, they'll just sell someplace else.
 

BeatrixKiddo

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Ok. So Borders has filed for Chap 11 protection and will be closing almost a 1/3 of their stores... 200 of 642 stores.
This is the bit of news from the article that piqued my writer's notice:
Borders closes 200 shops
That is quite a lot of lost sales. What I wonder is are they counting ebooks and books sold online or are those Nielsen numbers just coming from books sold through stores like Borders, B&N, etc? Are people in the US really buying fewer books? Is this a consistent trend year by year, or a once off bad year? And, if it is true that people are buying fewer books, how will that affect me as a writer?
Questions. All I ever have are questions...

I think that's just for the books sold in the bookstores. Although I'd imagine digital downloadable books will eventually affect ordering "real" books online.

It's just a shame because the Borders I go to usually seems busy, along with the B&N I go to. Maybe they're just in good locations.
 

Caitlin Black

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Places like Borders are being replaced by Sam's Club and Costco for sales of new stuff, and if anyone wants old stuff, they can can go on line and get it. I doubt fewer books will sell because of this, they'll just sell someplace else.

My fear is that if department/random stores start edging out book stores as the leading seller of books...

Well, I know already at my local shopping centre, the only places with any selection of books are KMart and BigW - department stores. The actual book store closed down early last year.

But at KMart and BigW, you can get only the popular titles and genres. Neither have science NF, or any semblance of a comedy section. The best they had for comedy was a bunch of Bill Bryson comedic-travel books in BigW. But last time I went in there, there were none of his books on the shelves, and when I asked about it, I was shown 3 that were kept in storage out the back (I bought 1) and told that there just isn't as much demand for him as before.

And that's the extent of either store's comedy section. 2 Bill Bryson books at BigW.

So my fear is - if book stores are replaced by books being sold in department stores / random stores / supermarkets - what will happen to good selections? All those new places to buy books seem to operate on the "Buy popular books in bulk, fuck the rest".

Which is why I'm clinging with dear hope to every single proper book store I come across.

(And I've mentioned this before, but buying books online without a credit card is such a pain in the butt that I prefer not to. Transferring money 10 working days in advance, just to pay for a book that will take probably 10 working days to arrive... I love my print books, but if book stores started disappearing completely, I'd be inclined to just start buying e-books and buy myself an e-reader. But that would be a very sad day for me...)
 

AlexPiper

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I've heard of Powell's for forever, and of Portland being "The Land of 10,000 Used Bookstores." Some day I may have to make a pilgrimage.

I live in Seattle -- a city not exactly starved for bookstores either -- and I still make a pilgrimage to Powell's every year or so. I think that says something about the place. :)
 

AlexPiper

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Are people in the US really buying fewer books? Is this a consistent trend year by year, or a once off bad year? And, if it is true that people are buying fewer books, how will that affect me as a writer?

I think it's a combination of things.

When you can pull out your iPhone or Droid and order a book from Amazon (and have it there the next day!) and still be paying less than you would to walk out of a bookstore with that book in hand /right then/? I know a depressing number of people who'll browse books at the local bookstore, then check the price on Amazon and order that way. Heck, you can even pick it up used if you don't mind waiting a few more days, and get it cheaper still!

Then we have the convenience of eReaders, which I myself have fallen prey to. It's far easier to read a new book as an eBook on my Kindle than it is to try and lug around a hardcover.

Then we also have the recession, which has cut extraneous spending for many people... and for many folks, extraneous spending includes books.

I think all three elements combine to leave a lot of bookstores really hurting right now.
 

Clair Dickson

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It's sad to see a bookstore close. We'll apparently be keeping our baby Borders store, which I guess is a small consolation since we'll still have a bookstore in town (being a Michigander, I feel some loyalty to Borders over B&N). But the suckiest part with all this is that Borders' arrival in town resulted in the shuttering of our local bookstore. I'd rather have kept the quaint local bookstore than the coffee-shop with movies and toys (and a few books) attached.
 

Satori1977

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I am not a Borders fan, but I hate seeing a book store close. Yes, many people go online to buy books, but to me, there is nothing like walking through a bookstore on a lazy afternoon. Picking up titles, reading the backs, or maybe a few pages. Finding new authors. I love it. Makes me feel at peace when the world around me is crazy and stressful.