What about Borders? - Page 2

TimW · 04-17-2012, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'm in over my head. This is too deep for me.

Don't come up too quickly...you'll get the "bends."

DiapDealer · 04-17-2012, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'm in over my head. This is too deep for me.

Floundering are you?

fjtorres · 04-17-2012, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by faithbw

Our Borders became a store that sells these weird rugs with logos like Ohio State's and Michigan's logos. They're pretty ugly to me but I guess there is a market for them.

Ouch.
There is more money in football carpets than pbooks?

Or maybe the landlord is giving the carpet guys a better deal than Borders signed up for?

FizzyWater · 04-17-2012, 11:33 PM

The one closest to me is empty, and as it was a standalone building, the grounds have become overgrown and sad looking.

There was another one in town, but I never go that way, so I don't know what they've done with it. Since it was a part of a strip mall, I would expect it to be more likely that they found a new tenant for the space.

Bookworm_Girl · 04-18-2012, 12:34 AM

Empty here. It was part of a large shopping plaza.

Kumabjorn · 04-18-2012, 02:09 AM

Interesting that so many seem to be abandoned, I would assume that implies less than optimal commercial location. Maybe that was part of the reason they failed. With e-books coming along people who had to go out of their way to reach a book store became early adapters?

Bookworm_Girl · 04-18-2012, 02:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Interesting that so many seem to be abandoned, I would assume that implies less than optimal commercial location. Maybe that was part of the reason they failed. With e-books coming along people who had to go out of their way to reach a book store became early adapters?

Not at all. My Borders was in a major shopping plaza near a major highway intersection with loads of other major stores in the area. The B&N across the street does very well. I'd say it is simply an indicator of the economic recovery in the US. Eventually there will be something else in its place.

soondai · 04-18-2012, 02:56 AM

I used to visit 2. One of them got turned into a huge $1 used book store where they buy books by the pallet, roll them out and stick them on the old Borders' shelves. I think they must have a real sweetheart lease with the shopping center they're in (which has stores closing left and right). I thought this store was itself closing a month or two ago when they hung out the "nothing held back" signs from the Borders liquidation, but they were just being thrifty using what they'd found.

The other one sits empty (though it was a Halloween store for a few weeks last fall).

Fbone · 04-18-2012, 03:12 AM

Mine is still empty. The strip mall also has a Toys R Us, Eastern Mtn Sports and a Burger King.

The owner's property taxes are over $339,000. They probably need to find a tenant soon.

fjtorres · 04-18-2012, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Interesting that so many seem to be abandoned, I would assume that implies less than optimal commercial location.

The ones I'm familiar with had premium, high-traffic locations.
Problem is rents on premium high-traffice locations are way high. Especially when most of the Border leases ran 20-plus years and were negotiated as far back as the turn of the century. A lot of them where standalone structures; others were Mall "anchors".

Those kinds of facilities don't get easily repurposed. In one case I know the Mall operator/landlord tried to buy the store to keep it open themselves under a different name. But that would be the exception; most stores simply didn't generate enough revenue from book sales to justify the premium high-traffice square footage.

Few business can. Hence, they remain empty.

Fbone · 04-18-2012, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The ones I'm familiar with had premium, high-traffic locations.
Problem is rents on premium high-traffice locations are way high. Especially when most of the Border leases ran 20-plus years and were negotiated as far back as the turn of the century. A lot of them where standalone structures; others were Mall "anchors".

Those kinds of facilities don't get easily repurposed. In one case I know the Mall operator/landlord tried to buy the store to keep it open themselves under a different name. But that would be the exception; most stores simply didn't generate enough revenue from book sales to justify the premium high-traffice square footage.

Few business can. Hence, they remain empty.

Right-o.

Can you imagine what the monthly lease must be for the Borders with it's share of $339K property tax?

Rick G · 04-18-2012, 07:18 PM

Mine is probably the lone empty store in a popular strip mall. The place is usually packed (and so was Borders when it was open) so I doubt it's the location that's the issue.

BillSmithBooks · 04-18-2012, 08:24 PM

Our local one (Plattsburgh, NY) is now a furniture store. The location was a secondary anchor for the only shopping mall in this small city.

My wife and I live an hour away from Plattsburgh, so a trip to Borders was an "event" for us -- drive out, have a nice dinner, browse books for a few hours, maybe catch a movie, etc. And while Borders always got the majority of our spending, there were lots of other merchants who benefitted.

Since Borders has closed, we've gone from 1-2 such trips a month to zero -- we now take the 2-hour trek to Burlington when we want our "book day out," but we can only swing those once every 2-3 months with our work schedule. I do a LOT more online shopping and browsing now.

Has anyone else's shopping patterns changed like that? Or is it because we're in such a rural area.

fjtorres · 04-18-2012, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fbone

Right-o.

Can you imagine what the monthly lease must be for the Borders with it's share of $339K property tax?

One notable case had a $33,000 a month lease. $400K a year. On a 15-year lease.

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...ing-the-lease/

LisaPT · 04-18-2012, 10:06 PM

Here in Ann Arbor MI, we had three Borders stores (including the original). All now stand empty. I've heard rumors that the original downtown location (they used to even have bands come and play upstairs) might have an interested buyer. It would be nice, that area of town has gone downhill and many other cute local shops have closed up and left since Borders closed. It is all very sad. Borders was more than a bookstore here, it was a way of life.

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04-17-2012, 11:33 PM	#19
FizzyWater You kids get off my lawn! Posts: 4,220 Karma: 73492664 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Columbus, Ohio Device: Oasis 2 and Libra H2O and half a dozen older models I can't let go of	The one closest to me is empty, and as it was a standalone building, the grounds have become overgrown and sad looking. There was another one in town, but I never go that way, so I don't know what they've done with it. Since it was a part of a strip mall, I would expect it to be more likely that they found a new tenant for the space.

04-18-2012, 12:34 AM	#20
Bookworm_Girl E-reader Enthusiast Posts: 4,873 Karma: 36536965 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Southwest, USA Device: Kindle Oasis 3; Kobo Aura One; iPad Mini 5	Empty here. It was part of a large shopping plaza.

04-18-2012, 02:09 AM	#21
Kumabjorn Basculocolpic Posts: 4,356 Karma: 20181319 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sweden Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Kindle 4SO, Kindle for Android, Sony PRS-350 and PRS-T1	Interesting that so many seem to be abandoned, I would assume that implies less than optimal commercial location. Maybe that was part of the reason they failed. With e-books coming along people who had to go out of their way to reach a book store became early adapters?

04-18-2012, 02:56 AM	#23
soondai Guru Posts: 672 Karma: 1109784 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Paperwhite	I used to visit 2. One of them got turned into a huge $1 used book store where they buy books by the pallet, roll them out and stick them on the old Borders' shelves. I think they must have a real sweetheart lease with the shopping center they're in (which has stores closing left and right). I thought this store was itself closing a month or two ago when they hung out the "nothing held back" signs from the Borders liquidation, but they were just being thrifty using what they'd found. The other one sits empty (though it was a Halloween store for a few weeks last fall).

04-18-2012, 03:12 AM	#24
Fbone Is that a sandwich? Posts: 8,284 Karma: 101696762 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Nook Glowlight Plus	Mine is still empty. The strip mall also has a Toys R Us, Eastern Mtn Sports and a Burger King. The owner's property taxes are over $339,000. They probably need to find a tenant soon.

04-18-2012, 07:18 PM	#27
Rick G Renaissance Geek Posts: 17 Karma: 127772 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: NJ Device: iPad & kindle	Mine is probably the lone empty store in a popular strip mall. The place is usually packed (and so was Borders when it was open) so I doubt it's the location that's the issue.

04-18-2012, 08:24 PM	#28
BillSmithBooks Padawan Learner Posts: 243 Karma: 1085815 Join Date: May 2009 Location: www.OutlawGalaxy.com, Foothills of NY's Adirondack mountains Device: My PC...using Puppy Linux (FBReader, Calibre, Kindle Cloud Reader,	Our local one (Plattsburgh, NY) is now a furniture store. The location was a secondary anchor for the only shopping mall in this small city. My wife and I live an hour away from Plattsburgh, so a trip to Borders was an "event" for us -- drive out, have a nice dinner, browse books for a few hours, maybe catch a movie, etc. And while Borders always got the majority of our spending, there were lots of other merchants who benefitted. Since Borders has closed, we've gone from 1-2 such trips a month to zero -- we now take the 2-hour trek to Burlington when we want our "book day out," but we can only swing those once every 2-3 months with our work schedule. I do a LOT more online shopping and browsing now. Has anyone else's shopping patterns changed like that? Or is it because we're in such a rural area.

04-18-2012, 10:06 PM	#30
LisaPT Member Posts: 16 Karma: 12 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: sony reader PRS-600	Here in Ann Arbor MI, we had three Borders stores (including the original). All now stand empty. I've heard rumors that the original downtown location (they used to even have bands come and play upstairs) might have an interested buyer. It would be nice, that area of town has gone downhill and many other cute local shops have closed up and left since Borders closed. It is all very sad. Borders was more than a bookstore here, it was a way of life.

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