Has anyone else been seriously affected by the closing of Borders?

[RickThunderclees]

I still can't believe it's happening. I live in a more "rural" area, and there are about 3 larger towns, semi-connected. I grew up with a Walden's Books in our local mall. Because of Walden's, we really never had any locally owned bookstores.

We also had an old Carnagie Library that was converted into a used book store. This was where I bought all of my books in my high school years. However, you weren't able to find ALL of what you were looking for at the used bookstore. Walden's then moved out of the mall, and became a Borders. 3 years later, they are now closing their doors.

Now I have to do all of my book buying online, which is a double edged sword. I love the online prices, however, I'm old fashioned and love the atmosphere and excitement of picking out my books at the store.

Typically

http://s3.hubimg.com/u/1110662_f496.jpg



But, I'm not so sure in my situation. I really am going to miss my Borders. Now it's online buying only. Anyone else in this predicament?

[boyhangover]

Nope. I have never liked Borders. Barnes N Noble and Half Priced books were the stores I went to. Borders just seemed less homey to me. I did go to the Borders in the mall every once in a while. The worse thing about buying online is that despite what they say you can't always garantee what condition the book is going to be in.

[Thundermonkey]

Nope. I have a kindle.

[RickThunderclees]

Nope. I have never liked Borders. Barnes N Noble and Half Priced books were the stores I went to. Borders just seemed less homey to me. I did go to the Borders in the mall every once in a while. The worse thing about buying online is that despite what they say you can't always garantee what condition the book is going to be in.
Very true, and I always enjoyed B&N more than Borders too, just never had the luxury of having one nearby. And I've bought items several times that were supposedly in "like new" condition, and were not. Ended up just keeping the items rather than deal with the hassle of the individual buyer...sure I'm not alone on that one.

[RickThunderclees]

Nope. I have a kindle.
Just can't get into the Kindle or Nook. Call me old fashioned but I enjoy having a book in my hands when I read.

[Thundermonkey]

Just can't get into the Kindle or Nook. Call me old fashioned but I enjoy having a book in my hands when I read.

Have you tried one? If you have, have you tried one with a case that opens like a book?

[jediracer]

I've always shopped at B&N or online, so I can't say I've been greatly affected, other than the fact that I actually work in the publishing industry.

[Sabrina_Fried]

Not yet, because there were no Borders in Canada.

But IIRC Borders supported the Kobo e-reader, which is the same e-reader supported by Chapters/Indigo, our domestic near-monopoly chain store. So it will be interesting to see what happens to Kobo support now that the larger American market has been reduced or wiped out.

(Naturally this would be a non-issue if e-book formats were standardized and if stores selling e-readers diversified their offerings a bit more)

[OzBat!]

The Australian Borders franchises have now closed their stores, but they're maintaining an internet store and still supporting ebooks.

[Inkthinker]

I miss 'em. I much preferred the atmosphere to most B&N locations, and I felt like it was good to have at least two major chains competing with each other. Now, the major B&N competition is Amazon. That's helping to keep their prices reasonable, but just the same I don't think the field is helped by reducing the players.

[Blueferret]

Nope. I have never liked Borders. Barnes N Noble and Half Priced books were the stores I went to. Borders just seemed less homey to me. I did go to the Borders in the mall every once in a while. The worse thing about buying online is that despite what they say you can't always garantee what condition the book is going to be in.

I agree. B&N always seemed and felt like a bookstore while Borders just felt like everything was thrown in the middle of the store. Plus, I was always able to find someone to help me if I needed something at B&N. Not so at Borders, they always seemed under staffed.


That said, I have a Nook and absolutely love it.

[RickThunderclees]

Have you tried one? If you have, have you tried one with a case that opens like a book?
My sister has one and I've read off of it/used it. But no, it didn't open like a book, no sir!

[Thundermonkey]

My sister has one and I've read off of it/used it. But no, it didn't open like a book, no sir!

You can get a case that opens like a book.

You can also get a case that opens like a book with a light too.

I love my kindle.

Since you now have to buy books on-line it might be easier to get an e-reader and enjoy books that way.

Now don't get me wrong I do love the feel of a book and turning the page but it was pretty cool finishing A feast for Crows and then downloading and starting A Dance with Dragons at 2:30 in the morning.

[RolandJP]

My cousin was fired from Borders. But he gave me insight into how B & N out them out of business.

I had no Idea B & N owned Booksamillion. Which they used in conjunction with their own stores to price Borders and Mom and Pop stores out of business.

[RolandJP]

My cousin was fired from Borders. But he gave me insight into how B & N put them out of business.

I had no Idea B & N owned Booksamillion. Which they used in conjunction with their own stores to price Borders + Mom and Pop stores out of business.

[boyhangover]

My cousin was fired from Borders. But he gave me insight into how B & N put them out of business.

I had no Idea B & N owned Booksamillion. Which they used in conjunction with their own stores to price Borders + Mom and Pop stores out of business.

The prices at Booksamillion, Barnes N Noble, and Borders are basicly the same. I have shopped at all three. The prices at all of the places are ridiculous. They have no one to blame but them selves.

[Michael P]

The prices charged at all three are the MSRP. So they can blame the publishers.

[boyhangover]

Walmart, Kroger, Target and Meijer seem to be able to knock off about ten bucks on most books.

[ddqfpluskick]

A lot of big name book stores are able to be more aggressive with publishers and set prices. Most sell at the same price because they see the other guy getting away from it. Wal-mart as always takes a cut in profit to out compete others. Borders was offering much lower rates online for their product than at there stores.

As for me I was a frequent online and store buyer from borders which mean I need to switch over to a new store. Most likely it will be Barnes and Noble.

[Inkthinker]

The Nook saved B&N's ass. It's a competitive device to the Kindle, and Borders had nothin' even near to compete... the Sony e-reader wasn't as good a platform, and Borders didn't own it.

[Hiromi]

Borders was only ever a place to kill time at the Mall, cant remember ever buying anything from them. Wont really miss them.

[JeffreyWKramer]

Walmart, Kroger, Target and Meijer seem to be able to knock off about ten bucks on most books.

Yeah, but look at what a small selection of books they carry. They order maybe 150 titles in huge bulk orders, and nothing else. They can do that, because they don't have to make money selling just books. They can make money if people occasionally buy one of the TWILIGHT books or a shitty cookbook along with diapers, CDs, toiletry items, bags of tortilla chips and issues of PEOPLE they sell.

In contrast, actual bookstores can't turn a profit unless they carry a wide range of books to appeal to a wide audience. That means more stock, which means you can't sell in-demand things so cheaply.

[RickThunderclees]

Walmart, Kroger, Target and Meijer seem to be able to knock off about ten bucks on most books.
I once worked at a small mom&pop bookstore. Basically, they make 40% sometimes a small amount more, off of the list price. The reason they can knock off that cost of the books is because so many people shop there, and they probably make up the difference easily with other items.

[clayholio]

Either way, it's about half an hour's drive to the closest B&N or Borders from where I live. I don't mind shopping at B&N, but Borders maintained a steady flow of huge discount coupons into my email. It's a lot more fun browsing the graphic novel section with a 40% off coupon in my pocket.

Also, the nearest B&N has had a rocky past with graphic novels - there was a point a few years ago where they completely dropped the section, claiming that they were high theft items. When they finally started carrying them again, they were kind of hostile to any questions about them (I remember being rebuffed when trying to track down one of the last 100 Bullets books with a "We've never stocked those"). I do still hold that against B&N, and mainly only shop clearance books and the occasional magazine from them.

[sHayden]

I have been doing strictly Amazon and used book stores only for about 2 years. I never did like Borders though. Their staff always seemed uniformed and not willing to help. There were always tweens sitting on th floor reading manga, and they needed to give their monstrous amoun of..ahem.."supernatural romance" its own section not in with sic-fi/fantasy.

[Sweetly]

I loved my local Borders. :C It was so close, I could walk there with my friends and it had a little coffee shop and everything.
We also have a B&N in the general area, but it's a drive to a mall and the place feels really loud and commercial compared to what our Borders store was like.

TL;DR
I miss it.

[Kusanagi]

I luckily had a barnes and noble right across from my Borders so it hasn't effected me at all. However if they ever go out of business I'll be hurting.

[brundlefly]

There was a Borders less than 5 minutes from my work and I would go there every so often during my lunch and read the monthly comics that didn't make the cut for my LCS pull list. I would also buy a few books and graphic novels there whenever they were running specials, too. I'm annoyed that the store closed, due to the convenience of how close it was to my work, but I'm not "seriously affected" by it closing. There are a ton of other bookstores in my area (both big chains and small stores) and I shop at them all far more often than I did at Borders.

[boyhangover]

I'm still waiting for them to stop sending me emails.

[mikekerrIII]

The prices charged at all three are the MSRP. So they can blame the publishers.
There is no obligation to sell at the MSRP

[FanboyStranger]

I have six used bookstores within walking distance, yet no new bookstores after the closing of the local Borders. It kinda pisses me off that Borders went out of business just because I could save the train fare. On the other hand, it made the justification for Amazon Prime a bit easier.