Salon: How Borders Lost Its Soul ("from a true alternative to a big-box bore")

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Saturday, Feb 19, 2011 17:01 ET
How Borders lost its soul
The store went from a true alternative to a big-box bore. Now, it's the independent shops who come out the winners
By Edward McClelland

http://www.salon.com/books/bookstores/index.html?story=/books/feature/2011/02/19/borders_disappears



When I was a teenager, there were two off-campus bookstores that shaped my reading life. The first was Jocundry's, in East Lansing, Mich., which I discovered when I was in high school. I could always go there for a copy of Michael Moore's alternative newspaper, the Michigan Voice, or a book by George Bernard Shaw or Friedrich Nietzsche, two authors I liked to be seen reading. A bearded Michigan State University historian was always sitting inside the front door of Jocundry's with his dog, reading The New York Times.

The second was Borders, the chain bookseller that declared bankruptcy on Wednesday. As a freshman at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, I was awed by the sight of the original Borders, on State Street. Never in my 18 years had I seen two stories of books. I spent nearly as much time reading at Borders as I spent reading in class while my professors lectured. There was nothing to do at Borders but read. In the mid-1980s, a coffee shop was still a diner that served pancakes until 11 a.m.

A decade later, as Borders spread nationwide, I was as excited as a Starbucks drinker from Seattle. In those years, on the cusp of the World Wide Web, I was living in a small industrial city in Central Illinois. Its only literary outlets were a newsstand, whose owner constantly reminded me he wasn't running a library, and a Waldenbooks at the Hickory Point Mall. When I wanted a book of short stories by V.S. Pritchett, I ordered it through a clerk, and waited two weeks. But with Borders invading shopping malls in Erie and Wichita and Normal, everyone in America could have the same instant access to V.S. Pritchett that I'd enjoyed in Ann Arbor.

Unfortunately, the ascendancy of the mega-bookstores ended up destroying Jocundry's, and its dog-friendly atmosphere. Barnes & Noble took over an empty supermarket a few miles from Michigan State's campus. Jocundry's moved into a bigger space to compete with B&N's inventory. The expense ruined them. Jocundry's closed in 2001. Soon after, Barnes & Noble moved into downtown East Lansing, claiming its independent rival's turf.

[XemaSab]

1. He'd never seen a two-story bookstore?

He's clearly not from the bay area.

[leveymg]

2. I still love hanging out at Borders, and mourn the passing of 1 of the last "public" spaces.

I've never had the same feelings about B&N which seems to cater to the crap discounted best-sellers and coffee-table markets.

This is terrible news.

[wtmusic]

3. Maybe it depends on the store, but

my B&N is fantastic. Great service, and pretty much everything that Border's offered.

They're on their way out too...soon it will be Amazon Über Alles.

[leveymg]

4. The web-based economy has eaten the real thing.

Pretty soon, no retail. A bridge too far, and then everything collapses.

[MorningGlow]

5. I used to work at Borders

What killed them was being owned by K-mart. Yep, K-mart. When the chain expanded under the Borders brothers, it was a cool place to be and to work. I was hired as a temporary holiday worker, while it was still Borders owned, then I was taken on full time after the holiday season, and I considered it an honor.

Even as a temporary employee, I had to take a WRITTEN TEST (authors, genres, etc.) before I was considered for an interview. Each employee was responsible for his or her own section (or sections, if they were smaller). The choice assignment was to get fiction, and the competition was fierce. Most employees had master's degrees in English and/or teaching. A couple had Ph.Ds. Many were still going to grad school. Some, like me, were teachers who couldn't score full-time jobs yet.

Our manager was one of the coolest people I ever met. So were most of the assistant managers. But what made the place stand out was how it had a certain amount of autonomy even though it had to report back to a main office thousands of miles away.

When K-mart bought the chain, it went straight to hell. They treated the stores like any other corporate chain--they didn't care that our customers valued our book knowledge. They hired ANYone as long as they could get them for cheap. They expanded the chain, and added music and videos and coffee bars to existing stores, too fast. They drove it into the ground, then dumped it.

Sort of a sad story, really.

[greymattermom]

6. my daughter's boyfriend

was fired from Borders for reading when there were no customers at the cash register
yes, for reading

[wellstone dem]

7. Clearly a post by someone who loves books and books stores

Thank you.

[MorningGlow]

8. 'Tis true

I've worked at many bookstores in my day--independent, chain, and independent chain (small chain in Boston)--and if I were independently wealthy, I'd open my own book- and gift store complete with small coffee maker, homemade pastries, and lounging cat.

Borders was the greatest place to work...until it became the worst place to work. I've never swung so far from loving a job to hating it, and all in less than a year. :hi: