Borders has a 50/50 chance of survival

[kwjones]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

Ahh, the preferred reader card. I miss it too

I've got the Barnes & Noble card, which is also good at B. Dalton. It's like the Walden's card, but you don't get the $5 certificates. They usually send you coupon's right before Christmas for 25% and 30% off.

[nekokami]

Isn't Borders doing a deal with Kobo for ebooks? Or is that just in Australia?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

Ahh, the preferreed reader card. I miss it too

I still have my old Waldenbooks Other World club card that allows me 15% off science fiction/fantasy books without an annual membership fee.

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by kwjones

I've got the Barnes & Noble card, which is also good at B. Dalton. It's like the Walden's card, but you don't get the $5 certificates. They usually send you coupon's right before Christmas for 25% and 30% off.

The nice thing about the Preferred Reader card was that you only spent $12 on it (at the time they ended it), you got 10% and the gift certificates, as well as coupons. B&Ns card is $25. Borders/Waldenbooks still sends out coupons though, and now for every $150 you spend you get $5, and the card is free.

[tomsem]

Waldenbooks/Borders
2009 Store closures: 110 (Q4 2008 to Q3 2009)

Outlook: Amazon.com continues to wreak havoc on traditional booksellers.

I find it ironic that Borders is considered a 'traditional bookseller'. It barely spans one generation in its current form. By that measure, I suppose Amazon will be 'traditional' in five years or so..

[Dr. Drib]

I loved the Borders in Cincinnati, in the Tri-State area. I regularly went there after teaching to drink a latte and check out the newer literature books that I would invariably end up buying. Since I was single, I also checked out the women, but that's a different novel with a different story....

If anyone from there is reading this, I'm the guy that sat in the big, comfortable chair and sometimes fell asleep, one time with a latte all over my lap.

I owe someone there a night of beers - many beers - as I was wrong about Joyce Carol Oates winning the Nobel Prize in Literature that year. She didn't, but she needs to win and she should have won - in my opinion. Instead, Doris Lessing won.

Oh, well.

I loved the big, fat chocolate chip cookies. All the staff knew me and they were all experts in their specific fields. We talked Literature and politics - I'm the guy who photographed Clinton and Chelsea, along with some other politicians (and hated Bush's guts) - I won't say anymore because I don't want to give away my identity to "strangers" here on MobileRead.

Hey, guys - if you're in the Tri-State area bookstore, I want you to know that I miss you all. I was in the U.S. about a month ago, but wasn't able to make it to Cincinnati.

Keep a few beers cold for me, because I'm still counting on Joyce Carol Oates winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.


Don

[suelange]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Isn't Borders doing a deal with Kobo for ebooks? Or is that just in Australia?

Yes, they joined up earlier this month. (or end of last year, I can't remember.)

[suelange]

Originally Posted by MV64

but I hate the gradual erosion of choices in the marketplace that we're currently experiencing. Nowadays you pretty much have to rely on one or two companies in a region to get what you need, and with Borders suffering BN is pretty much the only national book retailer left of any significance.

Competition is always a good thing, and we seem to be reverting back to 1900-era monopolies.

I worry about that, too.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by suelange

Yes, they joined up earlier this month. (or end of last year, I can't remember.)

Kobo seems to be pretty aggressively marketing eBooks, so that might help Borders quite a bit.

I'm personally more worried about the small independent local book stores. I suppose they could focus their physical inventory on local interest books if they could get an inexpensive kiosk/wifi solution. (I still like my "book café/teashop idea, though-- focus on user communities and events.)

[luvshihtzu]

phenomshel,
Thanks for letting me know that Julie Hyzy was doing a book signing. Just checked The Kindle Store and found her newest book Eggsecutive Orders. Cute title for her series.
luvshihtzu

[rmm200]

Stores that succeed will give you some reason to want to be there, and linger. A nice coffee bar is high on my list.

Robert

[nekokami]

Book signings, reader groups, theme nights... there are a lot of things book stores can do that would build value beyond physical inventory. Even we introverted bookworms crave social interaction sometimes.

[Connallmac]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Kobo seems to be pretty aggressively marketing eBooks, so that might help Borders quite a bit.

I'm personally more worried about the small independent local book stores. I suppose they could focus their physical inventory on local interest books if they could get an inexpensive kiosk/wifi solution. (I still like my "book café/teashop idea, though-- focus on user communities and events.)

Unfortunately around here those bookshops are already gone. Between the big chain book stores, internet sales and Wal-Mart they are long gone. In Wayne County Indiana there are is only one book shop, that of a smaller chain called Hastings. Only about 30-40% of Hastings floor space is devoted to books, the rest is split between movies and music. That was one aspect of Eastern Indiana I didn't pay too much attention to before I moved here, the dearth of book shops.

[suelange]

Originally Posted by Connallmac

Unfortunately around here those bookshops are already gone. Between the big chain book stores, internet sales and Wal-Mart they are long gone.

That's pretty much the situation by me. I do my author events at venues other than bookstores: taverns, independent movie houses, that sort of thing.

[guyanonymous]

Could this be representative of the shift away from brick and mortar locations for material purchase that is occurring in many industries? It strikes me that the new businesses I've seen locally in physical locations are those based on services and/or specialized products that the "big guys" ignore?