With the news that Borders filed for bankruptcy, I started thinking about the Borders that I went to when I was younger, back when a giant huge bookstore was a luxury I’d never experienced. There were fireplaces! And big huge chairs! And more books than I’d ever seen in my life, and the employees were friendly as opposed to condescending like the people in the local bookstore near my house who never had any good chapter books for kids.
Colleen Lindsay was saying that if the local Borders near her brother’s home closes, there won’t be a bookstore for 35 miles. As part of their bankruptcy, Borders will likely close 200 stores, which means a lot of people will lose their bookstore.
UPDATE: This is a link to a PDF of all the Borders stores scheduled to close.
Meanwhile, last Sunday, my husband wanted to take our younger son to the library, only to find that due to budget cuts it was closed – despite the website listing it as open that day. So, since my younger son is 3 and he wanted BOOKS PLEASE DADDY, they went to Barnes and Noble. It was a horrible shopping trip because the books were a marginal focus, since the minute you step in the door it was TOYS TOYS TOYS. Hubby said he wouldn’t take the kids back there again because it was so unpleasant, and books were not the focus. Toys and games and gifts were.
The floorplan of big bookstores is changing to include things other than books. Yesterday, at Tools of Change (larger entry about the conference coming, yes, with drinking game since I’m sure many people need it), the Indie bookseller panel was asked about what will happen when Borders goes bankrupt or closes some if not all of their stores.
Their answer was, it will leave a hole, and a smart bookseller can help fill it, through doing what those indie booksellers already do: building communities locally and online, and offering something unique that’s more than just selling books. Now, these indies, Greenlight Books and WORDBrooklyn, are among my favorites because they are familiar and curious about romance fiction (as opposed to some Indie folks who look at the genre and at romance readers as if we carry some papercut-inducing disease, as I’ve heard from some readers).
But there is room for the hole left by Borders to be filled, as they put it.
So let me ask you, as a reader: where is your nearest bookstore? Do you shop there? Do you have a Borders near you, and do you shop there? If your store closes, does it affect you? And what could a physical bookstore do to lure you as a customer now?
And to Borders employees who face job loss: I’m so sorry this is happening.
Looking at the list, it seems that our Borders will not be closing, which makes it our closest bookstore at 1 hour and 10 minutes away.
I would love if someone would try to open a store closer to us. As it stands I buy most of my books at Target or Walmart, which sucks. Generally they don’t have books that I want and I have to either get them at the library or online.
My Borders is closing, and I will miss it. There’s a B&N nearby that I suppose I’ll wind up switching to, though I preferred the Borders. And there’s a Books.A.Million that I love, but I don’t often have a good excuse to travel that far out of my way. There’s also a Waldenbooks close by, but I hate that store. Most of the clerks there attend a nearby Public Ivy, and give me lip about my reading choices, bleh.
Closest bookstore is a Barnes & Noble.
There is a Borders about 15 miles away.
I still buy most of my books in person, but I get about 95% of my reading material from the library. For a girl with a serious reading monkey on her back, the public library is a must have. If I bought everything I read, I’d have to live in a cave made from my books.
The nearest bookstore to me (until recently) was a Borders. Love that store!! The guy at the checkout knows me, they help, they always had the books the DAY they came out. Local news reports today list that store as one of the locations that will close. So very sad!
Recently a large, two story Barnes and Noble opened near this Borders. The gentleman most often at the information desk could not possibly be more condescending. They carry as much in puzzles, gifts, toys and other “non-book” items as books. It’s big, but not because they have more wonderful books.
I will have to go a considerable distance to get to a Borders now, but I will try to go there as often as I can.
I also will, unfortunately, order more from Amazon.
It just isn’t the same, and I will miss it………. so it goes.
Comfy chairs = bedbugs
I guess I’m old fashioned, but I am usually annoyed as all heck by the folks who put stacks of books and magazines on a cafe table and flip through them, licking their fingers to turn pages, getting greasy crumbs on the pages, spilling coffee on them, etc., and then leaving them all there for a sales person to have to put away later—usually after the store closes.
Not only were they not paying for their reading material, but they were rendering said material unsaleable to those of us who are so stuffy and fuddy-duddy we believe in paying for the goods we consume.
It’s one thing to browse a book, but allowing people to really dig in and eat their lunch at the same time isn’t really a good idea. You know the usual suspects will always take advantage and spoil things for the responsible people.
Just one factor among many leading to the overall demise of the business—too-big stores filled with bland junk in the hopes of appealing to everyone, cutting back on quality staff, missing the boat on internet sales, and then missing the boat again when it came to e-books, etc.
The best chain bookstores around were the Waldenbooks branch of Borders, Inc., and the old B. Dalton’s. I wonder if Borders can reinvent itself via this bankruptcy and return in a smaller, book-specific form.
I am ten miles away from a Borders that is NOT on the list, and a B&N. There’s a used bookstore in our town; they make fun of me for reading romance novels, so I don’t spend a lot of time in there. We also live thirty miles from the city that spawned Amazon.com. There’s lots and lots of books here. I’ve done my best to read most of them.
The difference between Borders and Barnes & Noble, at least here: Borders in Redmond Town Center, Redmond, WA, employs a woman named Andrea that should be working for RWA. She is the Goddess of Romance. She is a walking, talking expert on the genre. Her romance section is the most extensive I have seen in Washington State, period. If you tell her what you read, she will recommend wonderful books by authors you haven’t read yet. Her taste is impeccable. She has an exhaustive customer e-mail list, and she will let you know when your favorites release new books. She’s amazing.
Other side of the spectrum: I walked into Barnes & Noble last week to meet a friend. I was a few minutes early, and I wanted to pick up a copy of Eloisa James’ latest. Couldn’t find it. The romance section is buried in the back of the store, badly organized, and little variety. (True story: I was meeting a multi- NYT bestselling romance author for coffee that day. She lives half a mile from the store. She visited once to find one copy each of two of her books.) So, I asked if I could possibly get a copy of Eloisa James’ book. The computer had to be consulted. There was hemming and hawing. Finally, the bookseller consented to locate the book. He returned with the prior book.
“I’m sorry, but that isn’t When Beauty Tamed the Beast. Where might I look for it?”
The other bookseller at the cash registers (young female) rolled her eyes and said, “Aren’t all those books the same?”
Oh, yeah.
We won’t mention the fact that romance is more than likely paying both of their salaries…
I just looked at the list. I live in a pretty big metropolitan community in Southern California. They are closing BOTH of my local Borders. I am so bummed. I shop at borders because I am part of their rewards program and get my paperbacks for five bucks. You can’t beat that. Both of them had a pretty extensive romance selection. I like being able to depend on the price and that what I am looking for will be there. I also like that I can browse versus my local indie book store, which has like, 5 romance novels on the shelf. They are really nice and say that they will order anything but that still means I have to wait 4 days.
There is one independent bookstore near me, but the staff is rude and the store stock is limited. I see no reason to shop there and pay full price for a book.
I have a B&N and a Borders near where I work (They are actually within a half mile of each other. I love to go in and browse for books, but have been disappointed lately in both of them. B&N used to have a wonderful seating section with comfy chairs. Now they expanded their Nook display to a good part of the first floor and decreased the amount of seating. Borders selection has gone down hill. I went this weekend looking for two new releases and they had neither of them
I find myself getting most of my books either from my library (I’m a librarian) or from Amazon (both print and for my Kindle). The selection and prices are better. I will continue to go to bookstores and buy occasionally because I like the experience, but I definitely go less than in the past.
nearest bookstore – toss up between the bordera about 5 miles up the hill near the interstate and the B&N about 5 mi the other way on the other interstate 🙂 (gotta love NJ – lots of interstates) books are sold in a number of big box stores closer than that – such as the kmart 1 mi from me.
lately, i dont buy so much do to budget contraints, but i love the library! (and hear you on the cuts! my town just announced cutting the book buying budet by a lot)
I’ve been getting a lot of stuff by trolling amazon for cheap, cheap used ones so that when you add the shipping its still less than the list price. but that only works when i know what i am looking for. i get some as gifts. and have recetly be shopping eharleqin b/c what i want to read are no longer in the stores for the series books,.
i love to walk through a brick and mortar bookstore and just look. and read. and browse. but i only so that when i can be tempted to buy.
oh i’m so sad. I’ve just moved to Ann Arbor and was so looking forward to spending time in the original Borders but i’m pretty sure it’s the Ann Arbor one that is closing. *sigh*
I’m from Aus and I loved the Borders stores – even though they were a big american conglomerate chain. Luckily in Australia they have pretty good chain book stores (dymocks, angus and robertson – which bought out Borders) as well as smaller bookstores.
I have a kobo which I’ve been wanting for ages (least an affordable ereader that is usable in Australia without too many issues – but that’s another story) And yes all my books since then are ebooks – but i feel I have practical reasons for buying ebooks over physical books as I am now doing a two year stint in the US and don’t want to have to package a million books home and prior to this my book buying was limited by my tiny bedroom with a small bookshelf.
As much as I love my kobo and the availability of ebooks for making my life convinient etc I also love books. The look the feel the smell of books. I love how they age as you read your favourites over and over. And one day I aspire to have a house or appartment with ample shelving for a proper library. And i will fill it with all the books I love. Any of the books on my kobo that I love – i plan to go back and buy in book form once i have the space. And that’s what i love about the ebooks – i can have lots of really bad ones – the ones i would never read again and save my lovely library space for the books i will read over and over.
so i really hope that bookstores and physical books don’t get completely shafted – i think that there is room for both ebooks and hardcopies
I have a Borders and a Barnes and Noble about equidistant to me, I have to say, I actually prefer the BN – it’s the one that has the ambiance that you were talking about, not the Borders. Also – I have a nook, so there you go. That being said, I’ve gotten a lot of books from Borders as well (since it’s the one at the mall, I’ll pop in when shopping, when I’m early for a movie, which never happens, etc…) and they have a pretty good romance selection, which I love.
I’ve always been a huge library fan, though. My local library is absolutely awesome. The librarians are all friendly, the selection is awesome, and I’ve never once had anyone look askance at me for trying to order in a romance that they don’t have. I used to go there when I was in elementary school and check out like 15 books at a time – really, I’d have to say they’re the ones (along with my family of course) that have really fostered my love of reading. Like a said, a great romance selection, a great YA section (or at least it was great when I was that age) and even chapter books for kids. I can’t sing their praises enough. I never thought twice about how great they were until I’d heard stories from other romance readers about their libraries.
I know that’s way off topic, but growing up, we rarely to never purchased books. (my whole family read too much – waaaay too expensive) We made weekly trips to the library. Like I said, as I started buy books, I was pretty evenly split between Borders and BN, until I got my nook.
In Oklahoma City the Borders that will close is within two miles of a very large Indie (complete with fireplace, specialty books, and coffee) which did indeed survive the opening of Barnes & Noble. So three huge book stores within 2 miles of each other, with Borders the last to open. What were they thinking? I would have loved a Borders my side of town.
My nearest bookstore depends… when I’m on campus, it’s the campus bookstore/Barnes and Nobles. When I’m in my hometown, it’s the Books-a-million about 30 minutes away.
But I’ve pretty much given up on buying books. I don’t have the money to throw out on a book I’ll only read once or twice, especially if it turns out to be a book I won’t even read once. Also, the selections has gotten so narrow. We use to have a decent teen section and an okay sci-fi/fantasy section, but now? I can hardly stand to walk into the book store. For one, it’s hell to find what I’m looking for. The stores get so preoccupied with showcasing the fancy covers of books they want you to buy that the alphabetical order kind of dissolves. So maybe the book you want is in store but it’s two rows over from where it should be. Another reason is that ever since Twilight has had meteoric success, we’ve been flooded with its clones in the teen section. And the fantasy section is full of paranormal romances (to offset Twilight?), which piss me off. You have this lovely strong heroine, like Ilona Andrew’s Kate Daniels. And she falls for this completely possessive ultra-male. They fight like hell first, but then she gives in. And I could forgive it if it happened once, but no. I’ve seen it in multiple times in books that have been recommended to me and having that in a book almost completely ruin it for me. You have to have an awesome plot to make me keep reading. So I’ve been forced to expand my range and have found new books and authors in this kind of Lovecraftian-fantasy-sci-fi zone that exists… but not in conventional bookstores.
Fortunately, by shuttling between two cities and sweet-talking my way into a library card (seriously, they did not want me to have it) in my college town, I can manage to get enough books to fuel my addiction.
Oh, and Amazon. My problem with amazon is that it takes around five days for a book to get to me…but it takes me one or two to read it. Unless I’m ordering large quantities (which I can’t, I’m poor), it really is not any use to me except for textbooks and the occasional new release I cannot wait for.
I live in the Boston area, so there’s no lack of bookstores, even though one of the Boston Borders is closing. However, few of those bookstores sell romance. I’ve always relied on Borders for that, and found their romance section much better than Barnes and Noble’s. I go to Barnes and Noble only on the rare occasions that they have a particular romance that Borders doesn’t. That’s happened maybe twice in the past three years. There’s an independent bookstore that I love, but it doesn’t carry romance at all. I do use the library very extensively, especially to try new authors, but some books I just want to buy.
It looks like my Borders is one of the survivors. I have to admit, though, I don’t shop there very often. Generally I only go to a physical bookstore when I need a book in a big hurry, like my son tells me he has a book report due the next day (grr!).
I love to browse in Borders, but I can’t stand paying full price, especially for hardcovers. What I do sometimes buy is YA and children’s books, which are more reasonable. I’ll give my kids each $10 or $20 and tell them to pick what they want (books only, no toys).
Since I am a hardcore reader (over 100 books a year), I have to be very price conscious when it comes to my own reading.
I do most of my book shopping at a local store (Book Soup in LA), b/c they’ll order anything, the store is great (all books and books only!), and I love the cool folks there.
The thing is…I am too embarrassed to order Romance from them. Not proud of that. But it’s totally The Cool Kid Store and listening to them struggle to be openminded when repeating my “I’m sorry, did you say you wanted ‘Dreams of a Dark Warrior’?” order makes me want to crawl under a rock and die.
So that….that’s an addiction scratched online. Like I said, not proud. 🙂
There’s something for the convenience of B+N and Borders, but as so many have mentioned more eloquently, it’s just not a positive book shopping experience.
I was in downtown Chicago for the holidays and freaked when I saw the GIANT Borders across from Water Tower Place closing…I knew that was the beginning of the end then…
We have a Borders just a few miles down the road that is still open as of now – but honestly, I haven’t been doing much shopping there – I prefer to drive an extra 20 minutes so I can peruse the always changing and much more affordable shelves at Half Price Books – love them! And my 7 and 2 year old love their kids section – and there are NO toys just books and books and BOOKS! We walk thru the door and they race off for the back corner to see what new books may have come in since the last time we were there.
How, how can we combine the luxury of a big Borders store, the friendliness & charm of (most) indie booksellers, the ease and price comparison capabilities of Amazon, the swap and share business model of HPB, and couple it with a decent cafe and lots of comfy couches and cozy fireplaces…hmmm….does such a place exist? I’d like to pay it a visit!
Stock books and lots of them – this isn’t a terrible problem at the BN near me (the Borders in town closed…oh, probably 3-4 years ago now), but there IS a lot of non-book “stuff”. I confess I haven’t bought a romance novel in a while, as my mother has enough to open her own romance-themed library – open a drawer/door/box, find romance books!
I’m not fond of the fact that I have to pay to park, as the BN is in a “big box mall”*, but I had to pay to park at the Borders anyway, and it isn’t outrageously expensive.
Have some (non-cafe) employees – the last time I went into a BN there was ONE cashier and ONE person at the customer service desk, with no one else in sight, and there were definitely customers in the store.
*Think Target, Barnes & Noble, Shop Rite (??), a 15-screen movie theater, and several smaller stores plus a few restaurants, all stacked atop one another.
couple97: Oh please, we have more than 97 around here!
Not sure which Borders or B&N is closest to home—they’re all 20-25 miles away, so they don’t get alot of traffic from me. I hate to admit it but most of my book buying occurs either online via Amazon (almost entirely used paperbacks) and Target (for 25% off the cover price and only 5 miles away). Home delivery or close proximity win every time….
Relax, lady. No offense (deep or otherwise) was intended. As a matter of fact, I lived for seven years in one of the poorest rural mountain counties in the country (Pulaski) and was on welfare and food stamps myself (like half the county). I had access to mediocre libraries, but still avoided the BAM and B&N down there. Now, if you will note, I did mention that I am a single mother, so affluent I am not. And also that I drive 45 minutes out (to the country) to buy books. Maybe I should rephrase and say I think big chain bookstores are obsolete. And everyone on this list has access to the internet, no? Corporate America is no longer on the corner, it is in our homes and a hell of a lot more accessible. I apologize for misrepresenting myself as a snobby rich girl, but I am the farthest thing from it, I promise you. The end.
Back to the topic at hand, I like the ideas of book signings and M&Gs;. The last two times I really went to Borders and B&N was for a Laurie Notaro book signing and the Deathly Hallows release (respectively). That would draw me in for sure!
I have fond memories of the Borders that was catty-corner to the building where I worked in the 1990s. It was just across the parking lot, so I’d always pop over there during my lunch break. It was a great place to browse; I must have spent half my salary there—but it was the first time I’d been in a book store that was so much more than shelves of books. We’re used to that now, but 20 or so years ago, a book store with a coffee shop, seating areas, smooth jazz piped in at a discreet volume, ambient lighting, and the sale of CDs & videos was something new.
I now live in a community where the closest Borders is about 40 miles away—I never go there. We used to have a Waldenbooks in our mall, but it closed a year or so ago; it wasn’t very big (typical narrow mall bookstore), but it was the only bookstore within 25 miles. Just recently, Books-A-Million opened in the same space (in fact, even the shelving material and layout looked identical to the Waldenbooks that had been there). We do have a much larger Books-A-Million plus a Barnes & Noble Superstore in adjoining cities about 30 or so miles away. Because of the long drive, I only shop them when I have a specific book in mind.
My Borders is closing and I’m heartbroken because I helped opened that store 15 years ago. It looks like it’s Amazon for me now because I don’t like B&N and HPB’s selection is sketchy at best.
methods53 – that would be 53 ways my heart is breaking
My nearest independent bookstores are .8,.9 and 1 mile away in three directions. I am lucky and make it a point to patronize “my” stores while still using Amazon for ebooks and gifts for relatives.
I’m 50 miles from a B&N, 95 miles from a Borders (not one that is closing). I found 2 in my state on the list, neither of which I knew existed before seeing the list.
There is technically an independent bookstore in my town. They are very heavily focused on local authors, with a decided preference for non-fiction. The nose goes up in the air with a decided sniff when I’ve asked about romance in the past. The owner works nights at my employer for health insurance and guarantee income, and she’s the first one to complain about no one buying from her shop. Since they have one small rack of science fiction & mystery, with the rest devoted to her pet authors, I don’t have a lot of sympathy.
We used to have a Hastings in town. I agree with whoever said that the religion section was at least as large as the entire rest of the store. It was very much targeted at a specific clientle, who in my community don’t tend to be heavy readers.
My husband & I have nooks that get about 98% of our new book purchase money. I’ve picked up a couple things in paperback in the last year, and cookbooks have to be in print.
I shop mainly at my local Borders, about 5 minutes down the road. Luckily it is not on the list to be closed, although the 2nd closest Borders, about 20 miles away, is. They have been giving short shrift to romance lately, I feel. They moved the section to the back of the store. The series rack has shrunk and they don’t carry all the new releases of historicals. If they carried more, I would probably buy more. Still, it’s my best choice. There are no local independents, but there is a very large & new B&N an equal distance away. But Borders aways sucks me in with the rewards and those discount coupons they email almost every week. I am sorry for the people who are losing their local bookstore. I am very lucky because we also have a terrific library system.
Just want to add that my local Borders also really cut back on their music section a couple years ago, and they did away with the headphone stations where you could sample songs. I used to buy quite a few CDs there but rarely do anymore. It was the sampling that drove my impulse purchases. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
We have gained bookstores in the past 10 years. We went from 1 Walden books (that closed) to A Barnes and Nobel, a Davis Kidd, a Books-a-Million and a Hastings. We still only have 1 UBS, but there is a large one only 30 miles away.
I don’t have a problem the toys and games, as long as their focus is on books. I have to admit that I order through the stores to save on shipping and handleing and only if the local used bookstore I shop at can’t get it for me. My biggest complaint is with the service. They either judge you for reading romance, I have gotten several lectures or comments at my local B&N about my reading habits. Whats even worse they don’t KNOW the books or genre I am asking about. I would really like to go to a store and have the workers who actually know what I am talking about and NOT push the nook or there freaking membership card on me.
The good news is that my local Borders will stay open (for now). The bad news is that a) the other two within 200 miles of me are closing and b) by “local” I mean some 30 miles out of my way which means I have to make a special trip out if I want to just browse for books. A 33% Rewards discount on a single book isn’t really worth it considering how much gas I have to use to get there and back. The Waldenbooks near my office closed last January, which broke my heart – I can’t tell you how often I’d go to the mall for a quick dinner, then spend the rest of the time before I had to leave for ballet class just browsing Waldenbooks to see what was new and intriguing. The staff was friendly and the manager even knew me by name, I was there so much. It’s been over a year and I still miss it.
There’s a B&N down the road from my office (and about 3 more within a 30-mile radius), but I hate it because the rewards program sucks ($25 a year for a measly 10% discount? Um, NO) and like Sarah said, it’s all TOYS TOYS TOYS now. Since I am not a child, have no children, and have no interest in children, I really don’t want to be surrounded by TOYS TOYS TOYS, especially not in a BOOKSTORE. Even their music and DVD collection has gone steeply downhill beneath the onslaught of TOYS TOYS TOYS. Walmart and Target both have books, but the selection is meager and mostly restricted to mainstream bestsellers, teen books (SO MANY @#*%$#@ VAMPIRES MAKE IT STOP), and “inspirational” (read: Christian) books, so that’s not much use either. The Walmarts in the lower-income areas of my region are even worse, because half the book space was carved away to become the check-cashing center, and one store even banished the books and magazines to a single narrow aisle in the very rear of the store, right next to the goldfish.
As for indie bookstores? Well, there are two near my gym, but both mainly sell used books, plus one closes at 6 which doesn’t fit my schedule. There’s also a really tiny store way downtown with an extremely limited selection in an area with exorbitant parking rates (I’m sorry, but I refuse to pay a fee to shop). That’s pretty much it. Books don’t seem to be a high priority in my corner of the world.
Luckily I have my Sony Touch. At least I can still get e-books without having to drive to the outer edge of another city. *sigh* But I still miss the fun of wandering through a real live bookstore looking for that “must have” book.
keep69 – Oh, I’m not touching that one.
About five years ago my local Borders moved from a huge sprawling warehouse with tens of thousands of square feet into a tiny, cramped little corner of our mall. I stopped shopping there. I’d spend hours and hundreds of dollars at the big store, but when they downsized I found it came with it’s own set of difficulties. The parking was a nightmare, the floor plan was set up awkwardly and I got lost easily, and bookshelves were cramped together or 10 feet high to where I couldn’t reach. I visit maybe once a year.
But B. Dalton books and Walden books are now gone. Barnes and Noble has eliminated a buttload of books to make room for 20+ display tables for the Nook which sucks. Borders is a pain in the butt to shop at.
Now I go to the nearest Hastings which is about 3 miles away. It’s not a bad store, but they don’t have a very good selection of romance or scifi, and I find myself using my Barnes and Noble membership more online for exactly what Hastings doesn’t have in stock (and the free shipping helps). In fact I tracked my book purchases this last year and found that I but 95% of my books online because of the price and variety that is offered.
I’ve been with Barnes & Noble for a decade, and bookselling has definitely changed big time. I feel like online book sales are really the main factor in the downfall of brick-and-mortar sales. I can’t tell you how many times I lose sales to Amazon or even to our own company web site! People say they want a store where they can browse, but if they don’t buy the book from the store (because it’s cheaper online, which I totally get), that store ends up not restocking the item after it has been out for a certain amount of time, to make room for new releases. Stores end up putting in things like more toys & games to try to compensate. E-books, of course, just add to the problem—less store traffic. My co-workers and I are sad about the problems that Borders is having (even though it might mean more business) because we know people that might lose jobs, and it’s sad when there are less bookstores around in general. We trade business back and forth with the local Borders, because to me, it’s most important that a customer get a book when they need it.
People tend to forget that big evil corporations (not just indie bookstores) also employ people from their community, so less sales means less jobs.
Re: complaints about taking out the comfy chairs—I hear ya, but: those chairs were often taken by people who would sleep in them, spill coffee on them, use them to help steal books, and urinate in them. Yeah—believe me, as a bookseller, it’s okay that they’re gone.
I get all my books from the local Borders! And of course it is one of the ones being closed 🙁 There are a couple of Barnes & Nobles nearby but it won’t be the same!
I wish Borders upper management could read this thread, and the one over at Dear Author. Maybe they’d learn something about why customers are being driven away in droves.
I can’t imagine sneering at someone over their reading choices. Half the time, when I’m cashing someone out, I’ll comment that I really like an author they’ve just purchased, or if they like Christine Feehan, maybe they’d also like JR Ward, or things like that. I like books, and I like that people are reading, even if their choices aren’t to my personal taste.
@becca
We tried to tell them. We tried to tell them Make Books were a bad idea, stalking customers was a bad idea, the CONSTANT goddamn Book Drives (seriously, we felt AWFUL about that shit, we really did) were a bad idea – they didn’t listen to us. I had people write and call customer care and they eventually listened to the complaints about Make Books (that is, when Ron Marshall left and Mike Edwards declined to continue the practice), but not until the damage was done and morale was shot.
@redheadedgirl: I work at one of the surviving Borders. I remember the hated make book era all too well. My first Christmas, I was supposed to “suggest” at the registers something like 5 or 6 additional items… it was silly, and I just didn’t do it. sure, my “numbers” stink, but for me this is a hobby job, not a livelihood (thank heavens!), so I don’t particularly care. I’m glad to still have my job, but am not optimistic about how long that’ll be the case.
As a reader/writer/blogger/consumer, I would like to point out that I absolutely despise B&N. I won’t buy there ereader or no’thin from them. Last time I went there, it was a terrible experience. They were the least helpful and had nothing that I was looking for. On the other hand, my neighborhood Borders, which isn’t closing and I love them, has the friendliest service, and if anything, I walk out with more than I went in for because there is always a sale, or some bargain. I also buy crap, like moleskin journals because the pages are yellowed and I look really ‘writerly’ when I carry them. So, yeah, if my neighborhood Borders were to close, I would be devastated. Fortunately, only my mother’s, sister’s and two best friend’s stores are closing. This is a very sad day for Border’s fans and employees.
Island Books is my local bookstore, they are great! Hopefully Borders can restructure and some folks can keep their jobs!
All the Borders in my area are staying open- both near home and by work. I’m really surprised about one of them, because there is a Borders, BN and Borders Express within .5 miles of each other. I was SURE the big box Borders was going to be gone there.
I do most of my shopping online, but I am pretty split now between Borders and BN (depending on who has the better deal for what I’m looking for). I love shopping at bookstores, but think that the idea of a big box store that stands alone is probably outdated. The best bookstore I’ve been to is the Borders at my local mall, in a space converted from part of an old department store. It’s spacious, but not cavernous; it has plenty of selection and great customer service. No matter what I’m at the mall for, I always find an excuse to stop in there. Ditto with the Borders Express at the mall by work. Even if they don’t have the book, they are great about helping me either order it or pick it up at the big box store.
My book buying habits are changing, because I just got a Kobo reader. Main reasons for purchasing it was price and simplicity. With Calibre, I can buy my books from anywhere, so not tied to a particular store.
I haven’t had time to read all the comments, but I still wanted to leave mine…
Recently some friends and I decided to go in together to buy a new hardcover book to share. I did a little online price search just to check and then went into B&N. I was also picking up a book for a friend while I was there. Imagine my surprise when I realized that the prices I’d seen online were for B&N ONLINE only. Oops.
I considered buying in store, since I’d had to ask a sales associate to help me find a book (it had been out a week, but all their copies were still “in back”). In the end, I appologized for wasting her time and went home and bought online. One book was $22.99 in the store and $12.49 online. The other book was $16 in the store and $10 online. I added a $2 totebag to my online cart and got free shipping.
I’d like to support my brick and mortar store (even though it was annoying) but that’s a >$16 difference! Well, $14 if you count the tote bag. But even if I’d had to pay shipping I was still well ahead to buy from their online store.
Also, I’ve read some comments about the toys already and I agree. I hate toys in the bookstore. I can’t tell you how many conversations I had that went “Grandma sent you that gift card to buy a *book* not a *Webkinz*” Ugh.
My nearest Big Box Bookstore is Books-a-Million. The one I actually shop at is Bienville Books near work, although I get -some- things from Books-a-Million still. Generally when BB can’t lay hold on them, as has only happened a couple of times.