Borders future in chaos as administrators pull out

[panzerfaust]

Source: Guardian (UK)

The future of Borders was plunged into fresh uncertainty today when the administrators lined up to take control of the troubled book chain pulled out...

... Borders's future has been uncertain for several days since it emerged that a deal to sell some stores to WH Smith had probably collapsed. On Tuesday it suspended orders on its website.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/26/borders-books-set-administration

---

Looks as though Border's Books is going under in the UK. They have been struggling in this country as well.

I suppose they were hoping to make it to Christmas, and hope for a miracle.

[PCIntern]

1. Very sad...

Borders revitalized whole shopping areas here in Philly and the suburbs...shame.

I gave them as much business as I possibly could...never ordered from Amazon, always frequented the cafe, etc. There's almost no stock left in my Borders in wynnewood...mostly calendars and cards on the first floor. CD/DVD on the 2nd. Pathetic.

[MetaTrope]

2. Once one of my favorite bookstores around, after the independents had died

But once their quirkier book stock got squeezed out by floors of overpriced CDs and videos...meh.

[BakedAtAMileHigh]

6. independents are NOT dead

and maybe if the chains like Borders dry up, consumers might become more aware of them!

[quakerboy]

21. That would be nice

the strong return of the used bookstores would be really good. Its harder and harder to find good ones.

[okieinpain]

30. no kidding. there is a used book store in midwest city ok. that

has been around forever. I get a lot of reading material there and off of ebay.

edited to plug store. "the book rack" 15th and air depot.

[skepticscott]

9. Don't forget that

Borders was once an independent bookstore, too. I grew up in Ann Arbor, where Borders started, and had the privilege of patronizing what was once the one and only Borders. Sadly, they succumbed to the lure of corporatism, which seemed to have served them well for a while, but which may ultimately be their undoing.

[Deja Q]

24. Chains like Borders helped kill the independents.

If small businesses truly are cherished int his country, laws would be made to support small businesses. Not bail out the giant slugs that kill the small businesses and then whine nobody has any money to spend and therefore they alone deserve to be saved.

[Ranting_Wacko]

3. Good riddance.

I've heard too many horror stories from friends who used to work there about how they treated their employees to want to patronize them, even if every experience I had shopping at the local one wasn't a bad one.

I'd have gone Barnes and Noble only a while ago, if it weren't for the city I work in (and have to buy most of my materials for work from) only having a Borders.

[katmondoo]

4. Here in Gainesville Florida

the Borders Store is filled with all Right Wing Books. Glen Beck, Palin etc stacked high on the floor and on the table near the door. I stopped going there.

[nodehopper]

12. I worked at Borders

and while I am very critical of their corporate position on unions, as a personal experience it was a great place to work. At least in our store, the employees were treated well, it was a really nice environment to work in, the store did cool community outreach programs, everyone was free to create "displays of the month" on any topics from quilt-making to homoerotic art. Definitely one of the best jobs for "the man" I ever had--with, of course, an awareness that it was still a job for a large corporation.

[scribble]

16. Barnes and Noble is just as bad

Barnes and Noble is at least as bad.

Publishers don't run the book business -- the people who warehouse books and ship them to retailers (book distributors) do. This distribution business has very little competition; fewer than four or five companies control about 90% of the book business. Distributors treat their employees with no respect and positively hate retail customers.

Barnes and Noble is really a book distributor that has retail outlets. This is the one change in their business model from other distributors. They still treat employees and customers with no regard. They have security guards and cameras everywhere, and managers make themselves impossible to find -- walking into a B&N store is like walking into a color-coordinated jail.

As a retail buyer who encounters a simple error on your bill or book mis-shipment; I dare you to register a simple complaint with B&N.

=-=-=

You don't want to know what I think of Amazon.

=-=-=

Independent booksellers are worth the difference. Most independent sellers know their stock, will happily order specialized books for you, and are glad to fix the problems that will be impossible to resolve at Amazon, Borders and B&N.


sc

[nyy1998]

28. My experience with Barnes & Noble isn't as bad as yours

There's one like 5 minutes from my house and it's sort of a hang out zone. I knew plenty of people that worked there, and they said they were treated well. As (frequent) customers we've had a pleasant experience there almost every time. One time, we had to deal with a rude manager and we reported him to customer service and they placed the complaint on his HR review(never saw him again), but that's about it.


I'm surprised to be in the minority here, but I love shopping at Barnes & Noble.

[OnyxCollie]

20. Fuck Borders.

I used to work there. The general manager drove the store into a ditch because he wanted to punish the part-timers.

At the end of the year, he intentionally created a payroll deficit to reduce the amount of hours that would be available to part-timers when the new sales plan arrived. (The sales plan reflects how many hours will be available to reach the goal. By reducing the amount of hours available he could just tell them, "This is what's available. Work these times or don't work at all." He did that because he didn't want to deal with accommodating their schedules.)

When the new sales plan arrived it was less than he had anticipated, so everyone in the store got their hours cut. Same amount of work to do, but now less time to do it. This went on for months. I figured I lost over $1,400 in wages.

I asked him why we had our hours cut and he boasted about what he had done. I told the district supervisor about it, and he met with all of us.

Guess whose story changed?

After that, I had a target on my head. The GM harassed me for months. I filed a complaint, but due to an outdated contact sheet no one ever got it.

Finally, the GM called me into his office. He was going to write me up (my first) for some bullshit charge. I had had enough.

"FUCK YOU, YOU SICK, TWISTED FUCK!"

I'll dance on their grave.

[uberblonde]

5. You know what?

I'm not going to cry over Borders. They paid their people little more than minimum wage but piled a LOT of work and responsibility on them. If they were more like Costco and paid workers a living wage, I would have gone out of my way to patronize them.

[villager]

7. as an author, I'm not sure what to think. Indies are always best, but

in vast stretches of the country, there are no indies. Thus, if you're a mid-lister, and not Stephanie Meyer or Dan Brown -- whose books will be stacked elephant eye-high in *non* bookstores, like Costco, Wal-Mart, and Target, as well -- you need the support of the chains.

Borders was always more supportive, and the buyers at B&N were generally assholes. I've even heard stories of B&N demanding new covers (in one case, a new ending) before agreeing to stock a title...

The two big chains basically hold your readership hostage, except for areas where there are still thriving indies...

And the problem is, when these various Borders locations close, they won't be replaced by "new bookstores." It will just mean it becomes that much harder for people to get books...

[skepticscott]

11. The problem I've seen for a while

is not so much that non-mass marketed books are unavailable, per se. You can order any book in print from any decent bookstore or on the Internet, as long as you know about it. What I've always valued independent bookstores for is making me aware of the existence of worthwhile authors and books that I might not have been otherwise, if I were only looking at the prominent displays in the big chains.

[villager]

13. and the "as long as you know about it" is huge....

n/t

[alfredo]

15. I've watched Joseph-Beth Booksellers grow from a one store business to

a multi state concern. They battled the big chains and have succeeded.

http://www.josephbeth.com/About_Us.aspx/

At first it was where you went to find a mate. That traffic helped it grow those first crucial years.

[pmorlan1]

8. Maybe we can now have locally owned bookstores again

I hope the former owners of Hawley-Cooke book store, that was bought out by Borders, will buy back their store again. I liked Hawley-Cooke in Louisville, KY much better than Borders.

[Deja Q]

25. I remember RetroLounge having one for a while.

I hope it's been working out for him.

[mainer]

10. The fault lies with Amazon. No one goes to bookstores any longer

Which is a shame. In the UK, WH Smith and the grocery stores like Tesco are also pretty stiff competition for Borders.

[SOS]

17. Amazon will kill every bookstore in America, including the chains

Amazon demands a minimum of 55% discount from publishers. 60,70,80% on big titles.
Indies get 40%.
Publishers pay shipping to Amazon. Indies pay shipping to the distributor.
Amazon is a wholesaler which sells direct to the public.
No high retail rents to pay.
It is impossible for anyone to compete with Amazon.

Half of all indies have gone under since Amazon took off and the rest will be gone soon.

I had a modestly successful mail order book business in the 1990s.
Amazon destroyed my business and I am in the process of closing.

[skepticscott]

22. The problem is the same

as it is with office supplies, airline tickets, and CDs. The product is the same no matter who sells it, so people look for the lowest price and the most convenient acquisition they can get, without much regard for service. For a lot of things, that's not bad, and just a case of the market finding a better and cheaper way to get things to people, but it does result in some things being left out in the cold.

[OnyxCollie]

19. No, the fault lies with Borders.

Amazon is just taking advantage of the opportunity.

I used to work at Borders. They didn't see the opportunity that lay in the Interwebs, so they fucked around with hopeless ideas. How 'bout a kiosk where you can download music on to a CD to purchase? Epic fail.

When they finally got around to making a website, it was nothing more than a portal to Amazon.

[CreekDog]

29. Why should I go to a bookstore?

A while back it was a way to kill time, but there are better and faster ways to get info these days.

It's kind of like pining for the video store.

[saltpoint]

14. I didn't often care for Borders because I preferred supporting the indies

whenever possible.

On the other hand, more people who would never have set foot in a book store did go to Borders, and it was a good place for parents to bring their kids to establish a relationship with books and reading.

I guess I'd rather see Borders hold on and maybe Exxon-Mobile, Monsanto and McDonald's go under.

Also I want free gas and groceries.

[RainDog]

18. Borders moved next door to a great indie bookstore in my town and drove them out of biz

payback is a bitch.

good riddance.

[Joe Bacon]

23. So sad to see how many stores Borders put out of business

When I came to Los Angeles in 1982, there were many independent booksellers. Once by one they closed as Borders and Barnes & Noble moved in for the kill. Places like Fowler Brothers, Dutton's, Bertrand Smith's, Midnight Special and Book City all went out of business. The only strong independent left in the area is Vroman's, which is where I like to go bookshopping. And what is so sickening is to see all the Palin books on display at Borders or Barnes & Noble.

[boppers]

26. Powell's

New, used, online, huge local progressive business.

If you're ever in Oregon, drop by, or see:
http://powells.com/

Yes, this is a blatant plug, because they deserve it.

[pnorman]

27. Also, Powells is a Union Shop(ILWU)!

http://www.ilwulocal5.com/shop-union/

[bemildred]

31. Borders is to bookstores what McDonalds is to food. nt

[TwilightGardener]

32. Unlike others here, I'm sad to see ANY bookstore, even a big one, struggle.

My husband and kids and I would often go to Borders after going out to dinner (it was next to our favorite restaurant), and just browse, or sometimes buy a book or magazine. My kids would run upstairs and downstairs and find stuff that interested them, my husband and I would have coffee...it was a nice way to spend some time before going home.