Borders to Declare Bankruptcy

What I think is pretty remarkable is that these book stores can't make it when it is the publishers that really take all of the risk because of returns. If ordered books don't sell, they are returned to the publisher, at the publisher's expense.

 

My wife and I have over 1,500 books and I've bought maybe a handful online.

 

There's a Borders right next to my office and if it closes, I will be extremely bummed. I buy a fair amount of stuff there, especially when I need something at the last minute. It's a huge two story space on a block with an already empty large retail space (it was a Linens & Things).

About 20 years ago, the first Borders opened in the city I was living in at the time. I remember being fascinated by the coffee part, especially. This is back in the dark ages before you could get a cappuccino everywhere. I remember how exotic is seemed that you could go into a bookstore - a huge bookstore! with an escalator in it! - get a cappuccino and just sit and read. Other people must have been fascinated, too, because there were very long lines at the registers.

I'll be very sad to see Borders go, if it does.

As for online buying, even though the prices on Amazon are better, I rarely buy from them. I love to shop, but I'm just not a big online shopper in general. I like to see and touch what I'm buying before I buy it, even if it's a book.

 

In the early 2000s, Borders converted all their own cafes to Seattle's Best stores. Can't remember exactly why they did it.

And you're right about the business history. They've had about four CEOs in the last three years, and almost all got big payments on their way out the door.

Founding brothers, Tom and Louis Borders, have also turned down a lot of interview requests to see what they think of the current situation.

 

Big fan of buying online from Amazon. Pay less than what I would elsewhere, and a fraction of the cost if I go the used route. And the selection blows away any book store.

Bookstores will become like wristwatches. And a good chance, music stores won't be far behind.

 

What's it say about me that I wear a watch and go to bookstores? ha. But I also carry an I-phone.

 

I love watches and bookstores. No iPhone, but I do love my Blackberry.

 

In some of the locations B&N owns the cafe that serves Starbucks coffee and Cheesecake Factory baked goods (like the one near my in-laws in Greensboro, NC). But in others, like the one near me, you have an actual separately owned full Starbucks that's connected to the B&N with just a theft detector between them. Seems like a decent business model for both -- whenever we plan to just go to the bookstore, we seem to always get something from the Starbucks too and whenever I plan just to go to the Starbucks to have coffee and do some work, I always end up browsing the B&N and at the very least buying a magazine I otherwise wouldn't have picked up, if not a book.

 

Yeah, I think those are probably generally older BNs that are set up that way. I've been to one like that in San Antonio that I think is set up that way mainly because there isn't space in the store to put the cafe (but there is, as you said, an opening from BN into Starkbucks with a theft detection device). It seems like it would make more sense for the bookstore to directly profit from the "hang-out" crowd by selling the coffee. It's more advantageous for Starbucks than BN to do it that way.

If BN really wants to make some bucks they can put a drive-through window for the cafe, ha. You can drive through, order your coffee and the latest drivel by James Patterson.

 

Oh, I think music stores are reaching extinction before bookstores.

And, sorry to say, like with music, I'm bemoaning the loss of brick and mortar stores as I'm contributing to their demise. I loved to come in and browse at record stores (and find bargains for used CDs, but it's just too damn convenient to download a CD and be able to put your entire music collection on one little device. Now it's the same with books -- the prices online are too good to resist and now that I've put a Kindle app on my smartphone it's easy to download a book whenever I need one and read it on the go. I'll look around at the stores but usually don't buy something unless it's a real steal.

 

The Borders cafes are branded as Seattle's Best, but they're owned and operated by Borders.

B&N had an exclusive with Starbucks. Then, Starbucks bought Seattle's Best and they did a deal to put in Seattle's Best branded cafes inside of Borders.

Starbucks trains the employees & (theoretically) ensures they meat standards, but the employees are Border's employees.

It's the same situation when you see a Starbucks inside a grocery store, a Target, or an airport.

 

I'm doing the same thing. I recently discovered e-books, and though I haven't seen the need to buy a Kindle, I downloaded the Kindle app for my BlackBerry and have been buying e-books for $5-10 ... I'd ordinarily spend $20-25 for the print edition. I remember a time when I'd love nothing better than to put on jeans and a sweatshirt and just camp out for the day at a Borders or B&N. Some days I would come home with a book, some days not. But it was always time well wasted in my book (pun intended).

It's just as easy for me to curl up in bed or on the couch with my phone as it is with a big bulky book. I can get in some reading during downtime at a game, or afterward as I wait for a coach, or at the airport, or on a plane. Plus, you usually don't have some schlep either trying to read over your shoulder or asking, "Whatcha readin'? For all they know, you could be texting or emailing.

I'm a published author, so of course I realize I'm also contributing to the demise of the brick-and-mortar bookstore ... but it's like everything else. Things change. For my next book, I'm looking at a publisher that primarily does e-books, and just does print copies on a print-on-demand basis.