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Originally Posted by porkupan
Yes, they did hurt some local book retailers, though in the long run, I think, they helped a lot more than they hurt. The "hurting" had mostly been in the big cities. And I doubt the majority of book buying public was seriously upset about the demise of "mom and pop" bookshops replaced by spacious deep catalog superstores-cafes. But it did hurt some people I am sure.
There had been no bookstores in most suburban communities before the big chains. Nobody was hurt by them coming into these communities, into the malls and shopping centers. Borders (and B&N) provided space to browse, shop for books and gifts, spend time with kids reading and picking books, have a latte.
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This is right. ~95% of the population never had access to a good indy bookstore in the first place; for these places, Borders and B&N vastly increased the availability of books and were an unalloyed good.
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It is very understandable that for many people reading and bookstore are not related. Amazon reviews, kindle and $25 free shipping provide enough incentive to bypass the browsing. In addition, the ebooks play into the internet-driven culture of instant gratification. But for many of us the killing of bookstore is a huge loss. I know we are in the minority - otherwise Borders wouldn't have been in the place where it is today...
The question is, when five years from now Amazon finally succeeds in killing off the last standing competitor, what will replace the bookstore? Libraries? In today's culture of incessant "wasteful spending" cuts that's unlikely. Starbucks? Walmarts? What?
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*Bookstores* aren't dead. Borders is dead. Amazon still only has 15% of the US book market. I suspect that all (or almost all) of the cities losing a Borders will still have a B&N.
One of the issues with B&N and Borders is that they aggressively (over)expanded in the '90's. A large number of cities formerly served by a Waldenbooks and a B. Dalton (smallish mall bookstores) suddenly found themselves with both a Border's and a B&N, both located within 1/2 mile or so of each other, and each several times as large as the two mall bookstores put together, and both open until 10 or 11 at night. It was wonderful if you liked to read, although it was always kind of an open question whether many of these cities really had the market to buy so many books, and whether Border's and B&N were wise to compete so directly for customers in such a low margin, high volume business. But it seemed to work for about 10 years or so - and then Amazon started gaining marketshare. And then Walmart, Target, and even supermarkets started carrying discounted bestsellers, which are where Border's and B&N make most of their sales (Amazon, of course, doesn't).
Border's was the weaker store, due to various management issues, and basically cracked under the pressure.
There is still a large market for bookstores, and B&N should get some relief, as the customers who formerly shopped at Border's will now go to B&N - probably almost doubling their potential customers.
Who knows what will happen in 10 years, though.