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The demise of Borders bookstore

SFG75

SFG75

Well-Known Member
I did some peeking around the internet and found some great articles that I thought others would enjoy. I wonder to what extent the "culture" changed from being a place where employees were bookworms like the customer and knew their customers well, to a time when people who were hired were just hired for the job, not for the love of books and customers were treated like Wal-Mart customers.:sad:

Borders puts itslef on the block

No longer on the block

"Book culture" or corporate grocery store culture?


One prominent publisher decried what "seems to be a weird disconnect" between Borders's upper management, which comes mainly from outside the book business, and its more traditionalist buyers. It is a rift that favors the new guard at the expense of book and industry knowledge, the publisher said. Other publishers had a similar take. "Years ago, in its heyday, Borders was staffed by really knowledgeable book people who cared about each store.
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Transplant the word "Borders" with "Starbucks" and the story doesn't change.:whistling:

Any thoughts?
 
Borders is the only new bookstore in my town, and I wouldn't miss it if it went away. Today was a typical day. I went to Borders to see if they had a copy of Graham Swift's Waterland or Thomas Mann's Joseph and His Brothers. They didn't have either. Some of what they do have is over priced. Why go to Borders?
 
This shouldn't be a surprise though, right? I mean, these are corporate stores, not sweet little mom & pop local stores. Corporations are about getting employees to push the books and make money, aren't they?

However, I have to say that most of my coworkers at B&N are very knowledgeable. A lot of the time, we know what book a customer is talking about without having to look it up. We can recommend books based on their interests and can chat about their purchase.
 
SFG75 said:
Transplant the word "Borders" with "Starbucks" and the story doesn't change.:whistling:
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Transplant the word "Borders" with "Chapters" , "Cole's" or "Indigo" and you have Canada's equivalent to big, all consuming, chain book stores. (Note Chapters, Cole's, Indigo...all owned by the same company and/or women).
 
I'll agree with what Libra6Poe said. When I have gone to a B&N, the folks have been knowledgeable about the books I seek more times than not.
 
My nearest Waterstone's has a knowledgeable book seller, with a good knowledge of Eastern European and Latin American literature. When he learns of new publishers, you start seeing their books appear on the world fiction tables in store. The events the store has had have been interesting, bringing well known sci-fi writers, recently Neal Stephenson, through to cult local authors, like Alasdair Gray, to an evening of Central European prose and poetry.

Contrast that to my nearest Borders where the events have pretty much been non-writers, being all Z-listers off the telly. Bizarrely, people flock to this. I struggle to remember the last proper writer I saw there. I think it may have been Rick Moody a couple of years back.
 
Libra6Poe said:
This shouldn't be a surprise though, right? I mean, these are corporate stores, not sweet little mom & pop local stores. Corporations are about getting employees to push the books and make money, aren't they?...
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Indeed.

And some of us remember the times before huge 'corporations' came to town and essentially knocked the small, independent booksellers into the pages of history.

I visit a Borders occasionally. But I don't expect it to be anything other than a large repository of books, with the emphasis being on 'units' and getting them shifted and making as much money as possible as quickly as possible.

If I want something different, I'll go to any small independents that I know.
 
I think Borders tries to be too many things for too many people. Movies and music take up a good bit of floor space. I think once you add the floor space used by the coffee shop and the little odd and ends they carry, a relatively small percentage of floor space is actually used for books.
 
I've always struggled with the seemingly random way in which Border's stores are arranged. I can never find anything. In contrast B&N is much more "user friendly"
 
paperapostle said:
Transplant the word "Borders" with "Chapters" , "Cole's" or "Indigo" and you have Canada's equivalent to big, all consuming, chain book stores. (Note Chapters, Cole's, Indigo...all owned by the same company and/or women).
Click to expand...

The Chapters I go to,when I can,is two floors of everything! and the little used book shops are very limited on selection.
Coles only has one wall of English ,so there is not much choice there.
Raffin opened up about a year ago,and again ,dissapointing.
 
I don't really give a damn that the employees are supposedly less knowledgable than they used to be. I don't need them to be any smarter than they already are. In fact, the less they trouble me while I'm browsing the better. Other than directing me to specific titles when I need to be they can just wait up at the register and I'll be there when I'm done.

There is an upside to B&N and Borders becoming large corporations too - efficiency. Maybe they don't carry the authors you are always looking for, and apparently there's been a dumbing down of the typical clerk, but it has been my experience that the books they do carry have lower prices than most independent bookstores.

The area where I think the smaller bookstores can still thrive is by mixing new and used books on their shelves, purchasing books from customers thereby giving incentive to buy more books and hosting authors for readings, book signings, and discussions, and of course, confining themselves to larger population centers that will support a wide variety of businesses.
 
I have to agree with you joderu, while it's more interesting for many reasons to walk into an independent book store their prices are higher and after all how much can they actually stock? I enjoy cruising Amazon, I've been dealing with them for about 5 years, and their recommendations are good, they don't distract me from browsing and I can find most anything on the second hand side for a heck of a lot better price than anyplace locally, even counting shipping and handling, plus I don't have to fight crowds in the shops or use gasoline to get there. Which counts because I am at least 15 miles from the closest book store.

Truth is if I am going out shopping for books, the second hand stores or Library Sales never disappoint me. I can always come away with a box or two of unexpected delights.
 
Libra said:
The Chapters I go to,when I can,is two floors of everything! and the little used book shops are very limited on selection.
Coles only has one wall of English ,so there is not much choice there.
Raffin opened up about a year ago,and again ,dissapointing.
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I've never heard of Raffin.

As much as I dislike my hometown and think of it as a glaring beacon of everything that is wrong in Canada right now, I have to say it's indie & used book stores were plentiful and impeccably stocked.

Fair's Fair was the best, with two locations, and I believe they sell online. And Wee Book Inn, which has locations all over Western Canada.

Sigh. I have to wait for mini vacations to Montréal and Toronto to stock up, and scratch my used book itch.
 
Employees aren't the only change. The atmosphere of the store can change and Borders isn't the only disappointment. My local B&N used to be a great place to hang out. They had events scheduled fairly often including author visits, poetry readings, bands, open-mic reading. I looked forward to going there and browsing books and magazines while this stuff was happening. Then B&N moved to another location (across the street from a Borders) and it is now just another chain with no events to distinguish from any other bookstore. Yawn. I would rather go to Borders.
 
Dogmatix said:
I've always struggled with the seemingly random way in which Border's stores are arranged. I can never find anything. In contrast B&N is much more "user friendly"
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I really have to agree with this. The staff themselves could not find what I was looking for. Even though the staff gave up, I continued to search. What seemed like 30 minutes of searching by myself, trying to spend the gift card I had received, finally found the book I was searching for.
 
I generally have good experiences at Borders. The staff know where to find the book that I am looking for. I can usually find anything on my own unless I need to go the children or YA section of the store. For some reason that section of the store leaves me confused about where to find anything.
 
Dogmatix said:
I've always struggled with the seemingly random way in which Border's stores are arranged. I can never find anything. In contrast B&N is much more "user friendly"
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agreed! I have never been able to figure out where things are either. It frustrates me so I don't shop at Borders.
 
Borders Cuts 136 More Corporate Jobs

Borders Group Inc. cut another 136 corporate jobs.

Earlier this month, the company eliminated several high-level corporate positions. The latest cuts amount to 12% of the corporate work force and 1% of its total work force, which includes workers in all its shops.

New Chief Executive Ron Marshall called the layoffs a necessary step as the company tries to get back on track financially.

Borders and its largest shareholder, Pershing Square Capital Management LP, earlier this month extended the expiration date of an agreement for Pershing Square to buy Borders' U.K.-based Paperchase gifts-and-stationery business. The deadline for Borders to repay a $42.5 million loan from Pershing Square was extended to April 15.

Last month, Borders ousted its CEO and his management team, installing Mr. Marshall, who has a strong financial background.

The book chain, like almost all retailers, had a disappointing holiday season.
 
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