Quote:
Originally Posted by Kumabjorn
Now that we have a large selection of input, I notice that not a single Borders has been converted to a B&N store?
Were they too close to begin with? Are B&N apprehensive about expansion? With the rare exception of a permanent establishment most Borders seem to be empty or temporary event stores.
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Word is 75% of the two chains overlapped so there was no gain there.
Of the rest, B&N had no great interest in the areas (or they would have moved in back when they were in over-reach mode). They did *try* to bid for about 30 or so of the stores (and inventory) *before* they got shut down. Once the stores got liquidated, trying to relaunch would be more complex.
http://money.msn.com/exchange-traded...d-cd0b1ea01fc7
Plus, B&N's own situation has degraded since the Borders liquidation, so they are probably lucky they weren't able to get the sites they wanted.
The story's not done, of course; once the economy recovers (in either 2013 or 2017) there might be somebody interested in bringing B&M book retailing to the Borders-less areas but odds are it will be a very different kind of operation. Smaller, more diverse or more like HALF-PRICE BOOKS...