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bbusybookworm · 01-28-2009, 08:22 PM

I'm a little sad to hear this as I've got a lot of fond memories of Borders (the UK Division).

I First found Borders when I Moved to Brighton, England in 2000 from India, and found something I fell into love with Immediately, A larg friendly Bookstore with a Great collection of Books, especially SF, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, etc and with a lot of comfortable sitting areas and a Cafe.

Now keep in mind that until then Most bookstores I had access to were small ones, which often had great selections, but barely any room or no room to move inside. The ones I had seen which were close were Crossword's in India, which were a poor copy of the Borders model and had a really limited selection and outrageous prices. And the other was Jarir (I Think, I forgot the exact spelling) in Jeddah, KSA which while having a decent selection, was heavily censored, so a lot of SF&F never made it there.

I ended up spending too much time and money there in the two years I was there, as I Would usually end up there 3 or 4 times a week after finishing classes at five and stay there until ten, and usually end up buying a book or two or three that I really wanted to finish. I didn't really appreciate this model until later, as while I might have read ten times as many books as I bought, I still ended up buying more then I would ever have If I had not gotten a relatively risk free way to try out new authors and genre's.

Still, Even here I can see that things have changed, with the London Borders which I used to love and visit every chance I get it no longer seems to be that good, especially as I can usually get most books cheaper online or in ebook. While I do miss the browsing experience, it is still not enough to get me to go to a super crowded store and pay a third or half as much for my books for that experience.

01-28-2009, 08:22 PM	#6
bbusybookworm Tech Junkie Posts: 1,027 Karma: 10080 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Earth Device: iPad, MotoXStyle, OnePlusOne	I'm a little sad to hear this as I've got a lot of fond memories of Borders (the UK Division). I First found Borders when I Moved to Brighton, England in 2000 from India, and found something I fell into love with Immediately, A larg friendly Bookstore with a Great collection of Books, especially SF, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, etc and with a lot of comfortable sitting areas and a Cafe. Now keep in mind that until then Most bookstores I had access to were small ones, which often had great selections, but barely any room or no room to move inside. The ones I had seen which were close were Crossword's in India, which were a poor copy of the Borders model and had a really limited selection and outrageous prices. And the other was Jarir (I Think, I forgot the exact spelling) in Jeddah, KSA which while having a decent selection, was heavily censored, so a lot of SF&F never made it there. I ended up spending too much time and money there in the two years I was there, as I Would usually end up there 3 or 4 times a week after finishing classes at five and stay there until ten, and usually end up buying a book or two or three that I really wanted to finish. I didn't really appreciate this model until later, as while I might have read ten times as many books as I bought, I still ended up buying more then I would ever have If I had not gotten a relatively risk free way to try out new authors and genre's. Still, Even here I can see that things have changed, with the London Borders which I used to love and visit every chance I get it no longer seems to be that good, especially as I can usually get most books cheaper online or in ebook. While I do miss the browsing experience, it is still not enough to get me to go to a super crowded store and pay a third or half as much for my books for that experience.