Borders Calls It Quits

America's second-largest bookstore chain is no more. Borders is forced to close its remaining 399 stores and liquidate the company, after receiving no credible bids to purchase the company out of bankruptcy. This is another huge nail in the coffin of the retail book business (at least the brick-and-mortar retail book business). Borders hadn't shown a profitable quarter since 2006.

Part of why Borders failed while bricks-and-clicks competitor Barnes & Noble lumbers on is Borders' unfortunate decision to outsource their online retailing to Amazon. Barnes & Noble is also aggressively pursuing the E-book market, and even offer their own E-book reader. Borders doubled down on massive real estate bets with their mega-stores while the rest of the world went digital.

I had a few drinks with Rolf Potts last night, and when I told him that Borders was done he was pretty bummed. He told me that he could always find his books on the shelves at Borders, but Barnes & Noble was hit or miss for him.

I'm pretty bummed about it, too. I always loved ducking into a Borders (or B&N, for that matter) for a few hours, grabbing a cup of coffee, and finding hidden gems. If you guys knew my book budget in a year, most of you would be pretty stunned. But I can't see the brick-and-mortar retail book business lasting much longer. I honestly don't know how they compete with Amazon.


Indeed, outside a Borders bookstore in Arlington, Va., shoppers say they rarely buy books the old-fashioned way.

"I'll go to Borders to find a book, and then I'll to go to Amazon to buy it, generally," customer Jennifer Geier says.

I know I've done the same thing, and I'll bet people browse bookstores today with their Kindles or iPads in hand and at the ready to buy the cheaper e-book version of anything they find. There's no way a company that has to pay rent and electricity can compete with that.

I know the conversation about the death of publishing (at least "tree" book publishing) has been done to death, but if a huge retailer like Borders can't make it, how is a mom and pop bookstore expected to survive?

Are we witnessing the end of print books? Is the feel a print book in your hand simply romantic nostalgia? I've been reading the print version of the Game of Thrones series, and the print is tiny. I often find myself wishing I'd purchased the Kindle editions where I can scale the font up with the touch of a button. So I'm torn. I still buy a mix of e-books and tree-books, but it's probably at a ratio of 2 or 3 to 1 now. I wonder how many years it will be before I go a whole month without buying any print books.

What do you guys think? Are you surprised that Borders is done? Saddened? How do you buy most of your books today? Are the majority of the books you buy e-books or tree-books? Are we witnessing the death of print?

 

Not surprised or saddened, just annoyed. Personally, I struggle to read large amounts of text of a screen but I guess I fall into the dinosaur category with you. I will point out something about Borders that always annoyed the piss out of me, literally. No matter how nice the store or neighborhood, their bathrooms are always fucking piss covered, sticky, shit holes with at least a minute amount of graffiti. I don't know how many times I walked into a Borders bathroom and left the store immediately afterwards. I know it doesn't mean anything in the overall scheme of the business but it always struck me as odd that they didn't pay more attention to it.

Also, as much as I hate pressure sales, I probably would have bought a few more books there had one of the army of hipster hippy nerds working there come on over and intelligently discussed the book I was perusing with me.

Oh well, R.I.P. physical world...one more nail in you coffin.

 

Would agree that I'm not surprised. Although I don't think that the print model for books is totally every going to complete go away, the operation of a large book retailer is going to be a tough road to hoe. You almost wonder if there will be stores that partner with coffee houses or things of the like, although on a much smaller scale. Even having the ability to buy e-Books in a physical location, where the "I want to go and read in a bookstore" can at least be somewhat duplicated.

Borders is a sad story of missteps, too fast of growth, and exactly what couldn't be done in the face of terrible trends for the core business.

Will be interesting to watch what happens for Barnes & Noble too going forward.

 

NOOOO!!!!

I know I'm too young to be a dinosaur, but I still don't see myself owning a Kindle or a Nook. The whole point of reading's appeal for me is precisely because it isn't electronic. What's going to happen to Barnes & Noble now, I wonder?

From general personal experience though, Borders never seemed to have as many good deals as B&N. I love physical bookstores, but I don't think they'll disappear. Look at Strand.

Metal. Music. Life. www.headofmetal.com
 

It's hard for me to read something long term on the computer screen but that's because I have to sit up straight and stare unnaturally. I think tablets fix this by enabling the user to hold it like how he or she would hold a notepad or a book. I wouldn't know exactly though, but my tablet is coming in today.

It's sad that Borders is going the way of the dinosaurs, but mainly because I still have 3 or 4 gift cards that I haven't used yet.

 
Edmundo Braverman:
lucidfighter:
It's sad that Borders is going the way of the dinosaurs, but mainly because I still have 3 or 4 gift cards that I haven't used yet.

Better get crackin'. The stores have until the end of September to close for good. This might actually be a great time to buy stuff there, because it might be fire sale pricing.

Isn't the whole "going out of business sale" actually a huge rip off. From what i understand it's standard practice to drastically mark up prices a week before the sale then put a 60% off sticker on the product which still comes out to more then the regular purchase price.

 
Cardinal:
Isn't the whole "going out of business sale" actually a huge rip off. From what i understand it's standard practice to drastically mark up prices a week before the sale then put a 60% off sticker on the product which still comes out to more then the regular purchase price.
I'm sure plenty of retailers do that, but I would expect it to be tougher to do with books, as a lot of them have the MSRP price printed on the book.
 
Best Response
Cardinal:
Edmundo Braverman:
lucidfighter:
It's sad that Borders is going the way of the dinosaurs, but mainly because I still have 3 or 4 gift cards that I haven't used yet.

Better get crackin'. The stores have until the end of September to close for good. This might actually be a great time to buy stuff there, because it might be fire sale pricing.

Isn't the whole "going out of business sale" actually a huge rip off. From what i understand it's standard practice to drastically mark up prices a week before the sale then put a 60% off sticker on the product which still comes out to more then the regular purchase price.

Wrong. When the one on downtown Broadway closed, I purchased $500 worth of books for $60. I usually don't buy a lot of music, but I also picked up a bunch of CDs for $2 a pop.

I'm very curious why Borders and B+N didn't lobby the gov't to tax them. At one point they had a huge advantage and could have made that case. I'm also curious if Amazon will operate tax free forever.....

Get busy living
 

I enjoy a good hardback, but rarely venture into a bookstore. I do have a pretty frequent delivery from Amazon, though. Played with a Kindle for a few minutes, not sure if I can get used to that.

Does anyone go to the library anymore, or is that on the way out too?

A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!"
 

I like owning books better than e-books. I mean I hate "reading" and e-book, if that is considered reading. That said, I honestly love getting a package from Amazon with like 10 books. Free 2-day shipping, no tax, and marked down prices? Why would I ever go to a bookstore? I'll stay with the non-hipster coffee shop near me if I want that bookish atmosphere.

Reality hits you hard, bro...
 

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