Quote:
Originally Posted by VillageReader
I've never been a big fan of Borders.
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I'm not a fan of Borders either. They finally built a store in my area and I went to it twice. it was depressing. Very poorly designed -- like entering a catacomb. Dark, dreary.
Borders (also the owner of Waldenbooks) always had very poor marketing. I worked for several years at Waldenbooks and it was frustrating. Store setup was dictated by a central office. Perhaps it was a good setup for Chicago, but it wasn't a good setup for Poughkeepsie -- different folks and different interests. And they required booksellers to sell the discount cards (and had required numbers) or lose their job. Didn't matter how knowledgable about books they were or how helpful to customers -- sell or be gone!
I've never worked for B&N so I don't know if that is different but it is a much more pleasant experience walking into the local B&N. It is brightly lit, employees are generally helpful, and rather than telling me that the book I want is found in a far corner, they actually take me to it -- and experience I did not have at Borders.
FWIW, Borders is not trying to sell its US operations. it is trying to sell several of its overseas operations so it can continue its restructuring in the US. In the meantime, if they can't sell anything off, several shareholders have arranged to loan several hundred million dollars to Borders.