Borders will axe 200 Waldenbooks stores, 1,500 jobs

[Newsjock]

Source: Daily Finance

Borders (BGP) announced Thursday afternoon that it will close 200 of its WaldenBooks stores by early January, cutting as many as 1,500 jobs, most of them part-time. The move is intended as part of Borders's ongoing plan to streamline costs and find its way out of a money pit that's plagued it for years and led to a flurry of executive shuffles.

The shutdown will leave 130 of the mall-based WaldenBooks stores in operation; 45 branches had closed since the end of May.

... The move comes as Barnes & Noble (BKS) prepares to shutter all but two of its smaller, mall-based B. Dalton stores by January, signaling the last nail in the 1980s-era heyday of shopping-mall retail for book chains.

Read more: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/05/borders-will-axe-200-waldenbooks-stores-1-500-jobs/

[jxnmsdemguy65]

1. There are still some Waldenbooks????

I haven't seen one since, like, 1985....

[1monster]

10. Nevermind.... My brain took a walk without it's leash.

[DainBramaged]

2. B. Dalton stores were always GREAT for coffeetable books....

:cry:

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. I remember when book stores and record stores were my primary reason for living

Discount Records, Banana Records, and then Tower came to town (Mountain View)...

...Waldenbooks, Barnes & Noble and a handful of hole-in-the-wall "mom & pop" bookstores owned and operated by people who LOVED BOOKS...

The era of the iPod and Kindle isn't necessarily cause for celebration 100% of the time.

[Newsjock]

4. And now even Rasputin Books is on the way out

Although their going-out-of-business sale seems to be lingering a bit long.

[Merlot]

7. Did you have a Rizzoli's nearby - they were the BEST book store ever.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

12. Never heard of it...

...I'm in Silicon Valley, CA...looks like they're New York / East Coast?

[Merlot]

16. They were originally east coast, had a couple in California

Really great selection of books about art and design. It was like a museum book store , but 100 times bigger and better (and no kitchy gifts),

RIP Rizzoli

[exboyfil]

5. The biggest rush I had as a kid

was going into mall bookstores (used book stores, comic stores, science fiction book stores etc). I remembered collecting aluminum cans, cashing them in (this was when you were paid $s/lb), and hitting the book store.

Being old and with the internet, bookstores just don't have the same appeal anymore (no chance to discover the unknown book by an author or the new surprising book). For a while I used to like to go through the remainders books at bookstores, but I realized I was just buying a bunch of books that would never get read. Many of them reference books (to the point that I don't have places for them anymore).

The book clubs replaced the bookstores with me, but even then the purchasing exceeded the time to read.

I hardly ever go into bookstores anymore.

[Peanutcat]

6. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Now where am I gonna get my books???????????

[AtheistCrusader]

13. To some degree, the used bookstores will still be around.

But amazon is trying to compete with even THAT niche.


Won't be long and netflix and others will eradicate the last Hollywood and Blockbuster video's. Just the way things are nowadays I guess.

[Hardrada]

14. We'll be around if we work harder and also people are still

too lazy to look up stuff for themselves (or are too busy) so they will still sekk us for the rare and the obscure. But I am near the end of my rare book career and feel sorry for the newbies.

[neverforget]

21. You can buy online at Powell's Books

http://www.powells.com/

I love that bookstore! I've spent many hours/days in that store browsing.

[dysfunctional press]

8. "...signaling the last nail in the 1980s-era heyday of shopping-mall retail for book chains."

i think somebody forgot a coffin.

[XemaSab]

9. +1

Either that or they were looking for the needle in the heyday. :P

[Are_grits_groceries]

11. I have a friend who is a manager at one of these stores.

She just moved. She also has serious medical conditions. This sucks!!!

[sweetloukillbot]

15. I worked for Borders 10 years ago and am not surprised...

It used to be a great company that looked out for its employees - wonderful benefits even a revolving store credit account that the company paid on monthly. Then they changed owners, decided they need more stores in every market (honestly, I've always thought of stores like Borders, Tower Records, etc. as destinations - it's an event to go to one, they lose their charm when they are on every corner), ignored Amazon.com and decided to expand overseas. And the company cratered between 1998 and 2000 - I was lucky to cash out my stock options (yes, retail clerks got stock options from them in the late 90s) for a nice chunk just in time.

All individuality and autonomy was taken out of the stores, and it turned into another big box mess. I went through two reorganizations and I think there have been a couple since I quit in 02. They used to specifically look for educated and enthusiastic staff - people who loved books and music, usually with degrees in literature or the arts - they didn't pay great but they offered handsome benefits and hired at full-time with a set schedule for the most part. A boon for those of us with "useless" degrees. Now they just look for warm bodies that get part time and little benefits. When I left the company the starting wage was less than the McDonald's across the street.

[marshall]

17. I had a surprising experience last week

I am a librarian. I took an online survey that was sent by one of our book and database vendors. One of the questions was "Does your library still purchase print books?" I was shocked--I of course realize that libraries are including growing numbers of electronic books and other resources in their collections, but this lead me to believe the next trend will be to eliminate print completely.

[xchrom]

18. more people out of work. very sad. nt

[Politicub]

19. Sad - many malls used to have both WaldenBooks and B. Dalton

And I always made it a point to visit both of them when my family went to the mall when I was a kid.

It's always depressing to me when a bookstore closes. Buying books online is a tiny bit cheaper, but it's no where near the same as browsing books on the shelves. I would trade Amazon for a healthy bookstore business to come back -- but know that will never happen.

[mainer]

20. Printed books, alas, are going the way of the buggy whip

and I say this as someone who works in publishing. Another generation or so, it'll be hard to find a bookstore anywhere because so many people will be reading ebooks. If they read books at all.

[treestar]

22. I can't imagine reading an entire book off of a computer screen

Just can't curl up with a computer the same way.

[spinbaby]

23. I'm not surprised

Walden seems to have decided that if everyone doesn't want it, no one gets it.