Borders in USA to close - Page 3

tubemonkey · 07-19-2011, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCION

You two are making too much out of it. I live 25 miles from the south Dallas area. 40 miles from a Borders. Hardly in the boonies.

At least you have a ton of B&Ns in Dallas.

SCION · 07-19-2011, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

At least you have a ton of B&Ns in Dallas.

Indeed.

Phogg · 07-19-2011, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCION

You two are making too much out of it. I live 25 miles from the south Dallas area. 40 miles from a Borders. Hardly in the boonies.

I live north of Dallas in the Texoma area.
Borders and B&N have never served this market.
There are a Hastings and a Books-A-Million over in Sherman. Both are sound to my knowledge.

Borders took some bad risks and overpaid its management.

They did some things from time to time that makes it really hard for me to miss the company in any way. I feel for the employees, but not one bit for the corporation.

tubemonkey · 07-19-2011, 12:43 PM

What kind of severance package will employees get vs top executives?

jocampo · 07-19-2011, 01:04 PM

Well,

I guess I consider my self lucky then. I'm in Houston. I have a B&N as close as 5 min from home. Other one (my favorite one) 20 min driving. And the other one is like about 30 min from home.

The one that is about 20 min from home is my favorite one. Lot of couches

... and great selection of computer books that I can read for free, during hours, before hitting the button and buy from my Kindle, of course ...

boswd · 07-19-2011, 01:07 PM

I think it's a sad state of affairs. I have an always will be a bookstore junkie.

jedifarfy · 07-19-2011, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Wow! You must live a long way from civilization.

Here in the Seattle Metro area, we have 7 Borders and 14 B&Ns; plus numerous independents.

I've been thinking a lot about the Southcenter and Downtown Borders. Both are major renters for their buildings. Southcenter Mall built their store specifically for them. It's such a shame. I feel for all the employees. I've shopped there (got my Mockingjay keychain from them!) and they were super nice. I hope they find new jobs quickly.

SCION · 07-19-2011, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boswd

I think it's a sad state of affairs. I have an always will be a bookstore junkie.

I've often thought about moving closer to the B&N that I frequent (20 miles away, also a Half Price Books in the area), but the ball and chain (aka husband and children) prevent me from doing so at this time.

Gotta consider their needs as well.

*daydream over*

kennyc · 07-19-2011, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCION

You two are making too much out of it. I live 25 miles from the south Dallas area. 40 miles from a Borders. Hardly in the boonies.

I used to drive that far to work (across Denver)..

SCION · 07-19-2011, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kennyc

I used to drive that far to work (across Denver)..

I lived in Philadelphia (in the late 90s) and drove to Manhattan to work (for two years). Could've did the train thing. Prefer to drive everywhere. I'm certain I wouldn't make that trek today with current gas prices.

petrucci · 07-19-2011, 01:38 PM

I truly feel for all of the Borders employees. However, as has been stated by others, big companies like Borders have done much to hurt the book buying experience by putting under local shops, so I am not sorry to see the company go. Hopefully sooner than later Amazon will also fold, as it is just as easy for an author to sell an e-book himself than for Amazon to sell it for him and take a big fat cut of the proceeds.

jbcohen · 07-19-2011, 03:12 PM

Yes that is true Petrucci is is much easier for an author to sell himself but please rescongize there are several barriers that an author needs to get around:

1) Amazon is widely recognized as a retailer and even the computer neophyte knows to go to Amazon for most of their needs. It is much harder for a lesser known author to get recognized by perspecitive customers on the internet unless you are already one of the big name authors such as: John Grisham or Tom Clancey. Its easier for Amazon to move stuf becuase of their name recognition.

2) A lot of writters do not have the ability to construct a web site and to keep up with the maintenance of the site. It is true the for $5 a month Homestead will do that for them but not very many authros have heard of homestead.

3) Advertising of a web site and electronic books can be somewhat of a chanllenge for an author and for a fat cut of the profits Amazon will take care of the advertising of the web site.

crashed · 07-19-2011, 03:19 PM

Definitely sad indeed. I'll admit, as far as pricing on things other than books, ect. Borders was never really a great store compared to B&N, but I did like the atmosphere and less crowded locations (a good sign for failure sadly). Plus the fact that I am too, a bookstore junkie.

The best thing I liked was simply the Seattle's Best coffee, hands down better coffee and was well made by the employees with better quality ingredients. B&N's Starbucks was to me, not in the same league there.

Also I too live around Houston, but the best Borders there to me was in the Woodlands area on Market Street. I'll definitely miss that location.

porkupan · 07-19-2011, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petrucci

big companies like Borders have done much to hurt the book buying experience by putting under local shops, so I am not sorry to see the company go.

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.

A big part of that environment is about to disappear.

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?

RainingLemur · 07-19-2011, 04:16 PM

I'm conflicted about this. I think it sucks for those directly affected by it (namely the people who work IN the stores, not the cushy folks that just sit in an office and count their money) and it's never fun seeing a book store go out of business, chain or local-owned.

But.... I think it's been about 2 years since I last shopped at a Borders. So, it's not like I'm losing out on one of my favorite shop-spots, or anything.

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07-19-2011, 12:43 PM	#34
tubemonkey monkey on the fringe Posts: 45,746 Karma: 158575914 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Seattle Metro Device: Moto E6, Echo Show	What kind of severance package will employees get vs top executives?

07-19-2011, 01:04 PM	#35
jocampo Layback feline Posts: 3,034 Karma: 6980745 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: USA Device: Oasis 2nd gen, Sony DPTS1, iPad Pro 10.5"	Well, I guess I consider my self lucky then. I'm in Houston. I have a B&N as close as 5 min from home. Other one (my favorite one) 20 min driving. And the other one is like about 30 min from home. The one that is about 20 min from home is my favorite one. Lot of couches ... and great selection of computer books that I can read for free, during hours, before hitting the button and buy from my Kindle, of course ...

07-19-2011, 01:07 PM	#36
boswd Banned Posts: 2,391 Karma: 1001781 Join Date: May 2010 Device: The Nook, Nook color and Droid X	I think it's a sad state of affairs. I have an always will be a bookstore junkie.

07-19-2011, 01:38 PM	#41
petrucci Groupie Posts: 198 Karma: 1647827 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	I truly feel for all of the Borders employees. However, as has been stated by others, big companies like Borders have done much to hurt the book buying experience by putting under local shops, so I am not sorry to see the company go. Hopefully sooner than later Amazon will also fold, as it is just as easy for an author to sell an e-book himself than for Amazon to sell it for him and take a big fat cut of the proceeds.

07-19-2011, 03:12 PM	#42
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,032 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	Yes that is true Petrucci is is much easier for an author to sell himself but please rescongize there are several barriers that an author needs to get around: 1) Amazon is widely recognized as a retailer and even the computer neophyte knows to go to Amazon for most of their needs. It is much harder for a lesser known author to get recognized by perspecitive customers on the internet unless you are already one of the big name authors such as: John Grisham or Tom Clancey. Its easier for Amazon to move stuf becuase of their name recognition. 2) A lot of writters do not have the ability to construct a web site and to keep up with the maintenance of the site. It is true the for $5 a month Homestead will do that for them but not very many authros have heard of homestead. 3) Advertising of a web site and electronic books can be somewhat of a chanllenge for an author and for a fat cut of the profits Amazon will take care of the advertising of the web site.

07-19-2011, 03:19 PM	#43
crashed Connoisseur Posts: 50 Karma: 604784 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Tomball, Tx Device: Nook Touch	Definitely sad indeed. I'll admit, as far as pricing on things other than books, ect. Borders was never really a great store compared to B&N, but I did like the atmosphere and less crowded locations (a good sign for failure sadly). Plus the fact that I am too, a bookstore junkie. The best thing I liked was simply the Seattle's Best coffee, hands down better coffee and was well made by the employees with better quality ingredients. B&N's Starbucks was to me, not in the same league there. Also I too live around Houston, but the best Borders there to me was in the Woodlands area on Market Street. I'll definitely miss that location.

07-19-2011, 04:16 PM	#45
RainingLemur Spork Connoisseur Posts: 2,355 Karma: 16780603 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: Nook Color	I'm conflicted about this. I think it sucks for those directly affected by it (namely the people who work IN the stores, not the cushy folks that just sit in an office and count their money) and it's never fun seeing a book store go out of business, chain or local-owned. But.... I think it's been about 2 years since I last shopped at a Borders. So, it's not like I'm losing out on one of my favorite shop-spots, or anything.

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