Image Credit: Leon/Retna Digital
Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for Borders. Hemingway is just one of many authors whose books you’ll no longer find lining the shelves of the popular — but not popular enough — book chain, after a financial white knight failed to materialize to save the company from insolvency. Borders Group, after months of trying to find a solution to its bankruptcy problems, has decided to liquidate, starting as early as this Friday. The company’s nearly 400 stores will be closed and its 10,700 employees laid off — a major blow, both literal and moral, to the continued existence of physical bookstores in an era of increasing e-book readership.
The company released a statement announcing their intention to liquidate after 40 years of business. “Following the best efforts of all parties, we are saddened by this development,” Borders President Mike Edwards said in the statement. “We were all working hard towards a different outcome, but the headwinds we have been facing for quite some time including the rapidly changing book industry, eReader revolution and turbulent economy have brought us to where we are now.”
Sad news for the company.
Sad news for commercial real estate markets everywhere too. Been to a minimall recently? Half of them are completely empty.
^^The Jackson above this is an imposter and I resent it!
Hey, Original Jackson, ever consider that there might be more than one person in the world with your name?
I’m saddened by this news. Borders was one of my favorite places to visit or hang out back in the days when I was a lonely awkward teenager. RIP borders.
How nice of you to “hang out” there. Perhaps if you remembered it as a place where you used to buy books, they wouldn’t be liquidating.
This cracked me up. Thank you.
Umm what.. ever! You were assuming that throughout that time I spent hanging out in Borders I NEVER purchased ANYTHING. How comical!Your comment is fn ridiculous not to mention seriously irrelevant!
This news item is about Borders going out of business. The fact that people treated it as a place to “hang out” rather than as a place to purchase books is relevant. In fact, that you don’t see that as relevant speaks volumes. I don’t know what you did at Borders, all you mentioned that you did was hang out.
I used to work at a Borders, and we had plenty of “customers” like this jackson character. They would get a cup of water and sit, like a genital wart, for hours in the cafe, using our free wi-fi, writing a novel that would likely never see the light of day, or doing god knows what else. If we were lucky, they would at least buy a cup of coffee, and then get irate when they were told it only came with one free refill. Then there was the magazine readers, they would grab a stack of magazines and sit there for hours in a chair. I don’t know which was worse, the freeloaders that hung out reading, or the ones that would actually come in, sack out across a chair, and go to sleep! These weren’t bums either, well dressed people that drove to the bookstore to sleep! Then there were the men that would grab girly magazines and go into the mens room for an hour, I shudder to think about what they were doing in there. The jerks that would show up almost as soon as we opened, and get a novel, and sit and read it all day, bending the spine, making it impossible to sell. It’s one thing to sit for a little bit and skim a book to see if you want to buy it, it’s quite another to practically take up residence in the store. There were some regulars that I seriously wouldn’t have been surprised if they had their mail delivered there. Yes, the “hang out” mentality helped destroy Borders, along with some really bad corporate decisions. If you want a place to hang out, there are libraries, community centers, parks, or how about your own home, you have a stocked fridge, tv, computer. And I’m sorry, buying some Lindor Balls or an occasional book if you have a coupon, isn’t going to keep us in business. I guess we should have started charging admission for the freeloaders that just wanted a place to hang out.
Now where are we going to meet lonesome middleaged people to date?
I remember you Gwen. You never smiled. You would always hand me that coffee with such disdain, and I could never understand why. You were the only cute female I got to talk to during my entire day, and I never got up the nerve up to ask you if you wanted to hang out after work sometime. I wrote you into that screenplay I was working on instead, and it’s all for nothing. Thanks a lot Gwen. You cruel temptress. Now I will have to spend those millions in inheritance alone on some cheap hooker in Las Vegas now.
Yes LOL, it must be the customers fault that a major chain went under. Because some people would “hang out” at Borders–which was encouraged with the cafe, couches and leather chairs throughout the store–that must be why a major chain went under. Not because of poor management choices, increased competition from Amazon and e-Readers and the commercial real estate market. Yes, let’s try and be Mr. Wise-a** on here and blame a guy who makes an innocent comment about having good memories about a bookstore. You must think you’re so funny and COOL! Especially with that awesome LOL name! When in fact you’re a lonely, pathetic d-bag.
Hey Gwen, it’s happy upbeat employees like you that helped Borders go down the drain. Here’s an idea for your next retail job: try to spend half as much time doing your job as you do looking down your nose at every customer who walks in. And just as you seem to judge everyone who visited your Borders, I’m sure they judged you as the miserable skank you are.
I agree with Gwen 100%. I go to Borders a LOT. Almost every day. And I go in, get what I want and go HOME. I know exactly the kind of people Gwen is talking about.
But can we talk about the untold tragedy that no one seems to be addressing? What about ALL those unpublished screenplays and novels and business ideas and Harry Potter book clubs? What will happen to them? WON’T SOMEONE THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN!?!?!
Borders (and Barnes and Noble, too) were like a welfare state for lazy slobs who drank coffee and read “Entertainment Weekly” and “Cosmo.”
Brian
Well Rob, when your fond rememberance of a business that’s going under is that you just hung out there, then yes, I find that ironic. The idea of a cafe is that if you “hang out” there, you will actually purchase items from the cafe. I understand that in the age of the internet, they tried to create an experience that you can’t get online. I’m sure the hope was that if you did “hang out” there, that you would feel obligated to purchase something. Obviously it didn’t work out that way, what they had was a store filled with people doing nothing but hanging out. Before reading your post, I wouldn’t have thought that it would be a hard concept to understand that a business actually has to sell its products to its customers to stay in business. Apparently I was wrong, it is too hard for some to understand.
Gwen, I am sure that employees with bad attitudes towards customers like you had nothing to do with Borders’ decline.
ITA with rob…if you don’t want people to loiter and settle in for a day of reading, don’t fill the store with delicious food/drinks and huge, comfy chairs.
Ok, I will confess, I did my fair share of hanging out at Borders. I enjoyed the atmosphere. But I also always purchased a book when I left. I did sort of consider it my price of admission. I was friendly with some of the employees, and I get what Gwen is talking about. I think I was the exception, a lot of people really did abuse the situation, and never spent any money there. Some would actually bring their own food and drink. Personally, I could never just sit around in a store all day and not buy something, it just didn’t feel right. I will definately miss Borders. I enjoyed hanging out there and purchasing books there.
I didn’t say anthing bad about our customers, I was talking about the loiters. You have to at least intend to buy something to be a customer. I’m sure there were a lot of factors that went into Borders failure, not least of which was “hang out” mentality. If we had been allowed to politely let loiters know that if they weren’t going purchase the book they’ve spent the last hour reading (and usually ruining by breaking the spine), then they need to put it back, then maybe it would have discouraged the mass loitering. I appreciated our customers, meaning the people that actually bought things. I wasn’t crazy about the squatters, but I was nice to them too, I would even pretend to be impressed by all the Tarantino wannabes squatting in the cafe. Seems simple to me, if you like a business, support it. Hanging out at the business for hours on end without buying anything isn’t supporting the business. Have a nice day Rob, I won’t resort to the personal insults as you have.
Why all the hate for Gwen? She’s absolutely right. As someone who went to Borders in Manhattan (R.I.P Kip’s Bay Borders), and spent HUNDREDS of dollars there, I was annoyed beyond belief as well by they loiterers. WTF, people! Don’t you have homes? Why do you have to go to a bookstore to take a freaking nap? Borders’ mistake was to put chairs and tables out for the freeloaders. The actual customers could never get a seat because the freaking freeloaders were always there, day and night, lounging and nursing their one cup of coffee. F***ing losers. YOU’RE the reason Borders is closing.
Well LOL, apparently you follow everyone around at Borders and you know whether or not they buy anything? Hanging out can mean buying coffee with friends while sitting in the cafe? Or browsing the books and buying one. But I guess that’s not the concept of hanging out for you. Maybe next time everyone should spell out their activities to you before the so-very-cool and unfunny LOL decides to judge them and what they did. Did you “hang out” at an arcade playing video games growing up? That means you spent money there-you didn’t just stare at the wall, right? Maybe that’s what other people on here meant when they “hung out” at Borders. They had friends and enjoyed coffee and purchasing something. But I guess this concept of hanging out is too hard for you to understand.
Gwen,
You’re right–I was wrong to make any personal insults and I apologize. I see your point about loiterers, but I don’t think you can blame potential customers for the failure. If they didn’t have couches and chairs all over the place, then lazy-a** people wouldn’t sit there all day reading books and breaking spines. And maybe if they had a Rewards system that they didn’t change every ten minutes, they’d have more loyal customers. Borders is to blame for their failures. Not its customers. If they wanted more people to buy and less people to sit around all day, they should have taken steps towards that. I agree–the loiterers were a problem. It’s too bad they didn’t do something about it. And again, my apologies for the insult before. Completely wrong and uncalled for.
*sigh* Rob, arcades don’t let you play video games for free. Borders did let people sit for hours and read for free, in the hopes that they would feel obligated to purchase something. It didn’t work, people just hung out, or as I’ve seen elsewhere on here, used it as a free daycare center for their children. I have a hard time believing you’re really this dense.
Like Gwen I worked at a Borders and have seen everything she has. There were some great loyal customers who came in but the people who came to hang out spent more time in there then the people who came in everyday and actually bought something. Not only did people sleep in the chairs but they also ripped the fabric in them and stuffed food into them. When the store removed a few chairs to make more room for wheelchairs there was so much outrage. Be grateful you have legs you can use. Finding the porn magazines in the bathrooms on a daily basis gets old and who wants to even touch them after that? There were people in there everyday who would even hand me a book they decided not to get because they read it and not buy in damaged condition because they have decided to bend the spins, pages or the book over itself. But what always bothered me the most was the adults who would leave their small children in the kids section alone thinking it was some kind of daycare. There were regulars who would leave their small and tween children in the store for almost a whole day while they shopped at other stores. I am grateful for some of our customers we had who were the best and still are right now and doing everything to support us. My coworkers and management team have the best anyone could ask for. Even we knew the corporate management was making decisions that just did not make sense and one of them messed us up big time. I know it is not just because of the loiters but they caused so much damage to merchandise sadly.
That’s terrible. I have no interest in eReaders. I like physical books and I love strolling through bookstores. I’ve spent many hours in Borders.
Even if the big box bookstores go under, you can–and should–brouse and buy at your independent local booksellers. Still fun to hang out there and the staff at the neighborhood shops know their stuff! Still sad about B’s and B&N’s impending closures, though….
Thanks for making that excellent point about indie bookstores. Hope you have many hours of pleasant browsing in your future, abadstroller.
Agreed
Happy book browsing to you too, Stevex, JPX, and fellow bibliophiles!
If I had an indie bookstore, I would, but unfortunately Borders was the only bookstore of any kind within a two-hour drive of me. So I’m screwed.
I love bookstores. I’m also a frequent shopper/visitor to Borders and B&N. But let’s face it, these companies were the Walmart of bookstores. Maybe, and I’m seriously praying, with their demise, we’ll see the return of indie/mom and pop bookstores.
I suspect, though, the “hangout/loiter” memtality will be even harder on independent bokstores, though.
Hanging out at an indie bookstore is harder because of loiterer guilt. (1) If you’re going into an indie bookstore in the first place, you’re probably a little “indie” yourself and will likely find something you’d buy anyway. (2) Indies are mom-and-pop owned, and mom and pop are usually there asking if there’s anything they can help you find. (3) Big box book shops (try to say THAT 5 times really fast) are easy to be anonymous in and you can easily rationalize that the BigCorpBooks can absorb your non-buying presence and that they’re GRATEFUL for your making their place look busy. (5) Mom and pop WILL learn your name, look out for you, smile broadly, and ask with a beseeching look in their eyes, “Back again? Maybe we can help you find something you’ll enjoy THIS TIME?” Believe me, you’ll either buy something or back out apologizing profusely for taking up their time!
I agree with you. I would much rather hold a book. Besides if you drop a book it won’t break.
Not to memtion the fact that e-book readers just aren’t comfortable to hald for all that long. Really can you see yourself holding onto one of those things on a summer afternoon as you read an entire book? Holy hand cramps, Batman! (Though I hope you are reading something far better than Batman)
to be fair, i drop my nook all the time, and it’s perfectly fine.
Actually, the #1 reason I like reading on my Kindle is because I find it much more comfortable to hold than a book (especially large hardcovers).
That said, I do love bookstores. My husband proposed to me in one
I’m curious, @Sally, how do you hold your books?
I concur, it’s sad that books are going to become a rarity in the next decade.
I agree. Especially with the rise of e-books and other electronic readers. Not only are e-books uncomfortable to hold, they are worse to look at. The screens are terrible for the eyes. But nothing beats holding and reading AN ACTUAL BOOK. The smell of the spine, the texture of the pages, the warmth of the print, reading a novel under the covers with a flashlight, traveling to a library. You can’t get that with an e-book. Yet, I fear, Ray Bradbury may have accurately predicted the future with his dystopia. What will happen without the presence of books?
I love books, and I love bookstores. But Borders was WAY overpriced, especially in their DVDs… I mean, who would ever pay $45 for a REGULAR DVD? It’s insane! But yeah, I definitely love reading actual books, as opposed to e-readers.
Their Blu-rays, DVDs, and CDs are way overpriced. If the list price for a CD is 13.99 they would price it for 18.99. If a Blu-ray was listed for 29.99 they would sell it for 44.99 or something crazy. I would only buy a Blu-ray or DVD from them if I had one of their 40 or 50 percent off coupons.
Agreed. It got to where the only time I spent money @ Borders or even went there anymore was for presents.
You are the first I’ve read that points out that Borders was just too overpriced. I agree. I would buy books there in paperback and my hubby would occasionally buy a graphic novel but I rarely bought a hardcover unless it was one that 1) was on sale, 2) that I knew I’d have to wait months for at the local library and 3) I just couldn’t wait. But that did not happen often. As for music, an average cd was $15.99 at Borders plus tax if not on sale. There were those that were $17.99 or $18.99. It is very rare that I pay more than $9.99 plus tax on either Itunes or Amazon for music. And it costs me a few pennies to burn a backup disk from what I just purchased.
We have both a Borders and B&N in town. I checked out Borders a few times when I got a giftcard, but they were always overpriced and had a poor selection compared to B&N. I have an eReader, but still spend quite a bit on books per year. Borders closing down doesn’t surprise me in the least, especially if our town’s Borders was reflective of the chain on a whole.
The stores went by distributors prices and not markdown prices like so many other places. If you actually look at the back of the book or inside cover of a hardback you can see how the prices were the same as listed on the book.
Borders, even with it’s current liquidation prices, is still overpriced. My wife I buy a lot of books, DVDs, blu-rays and music and it was clear Borders was higher than B&N, Amazon and Powells. You combine high prices with a failure to adapt to the introduction of E-reader you get bankruptcy. Borders put a ton of great book stores out of business and it is now suffering the same fate.
My friends and I would go to Borders and buy a stack of books to read every week and have lunch at a nearby cafe. If they did not have a book in stock, they special ordered it. When Amazon arrived, there was no need to go Borders when every book in the world could be delivered to your door and at a deeply discounted price. This is where Borders (like the current US Postal System) failed their customers. Borders refused to keep up with the times – the prices were not competitive, there was no wifi cafe, etc. Like the postal service, they became dinosaurs and made no effort to change to keep up with the times. Barnes and Noble did not make that same errors and are still around.
As an ex-Borders manager I can tell you part of the reason they are going under is that they did try to compete with Amazon using coupons that gave too generous of a discount thereby destroying their profit. The only reason B&N has a chance still is because of the Nook and other diversity in their company. As a bookstore there is absolutely no way to compete with Amazon because you are paying for the brick & mortar location and more importantly all of those employees that need to be knowledgeable AND keep product in a very time-consuming order- ie- alpha within specific sections etc- I assure you that process alone can consume HOURS of time. Unfortunately because of Amazon, we will more than likely lose the big box bookstore with the fantastic depth of selection to browse. It’s a sad, sad day for book lovers….
Now I’m gonna have to travel 25 minutes to a Barnes & Noble just to buy a damn book! As opposed to 5 minutes to the Borders in town. I’m not going to be able to get my reading fix as easily now.
read e-books. you can get them instantly and save a tree or two.
I would rather save a job or two. So no thanks to your e-book.
…so you’re saying no one has a job who works on the production of ebooks?
@ Lila…Just WHAT jobs do ebooks employ? Not the timber industry that replants trees which helps the environment, not production plants that print and produce the physical books, not the shippers, packagers, or truckers (deliverymen) who transport the books, not the sales clerk who stocks or works the register. What jobs…I seriously want to know. Because I don’t know.
You’re so pretty.
@AcaseofGeo – eBooks would support jobs in digital publishing. Probably not as many jobs when you consider shippers and truckers and all that, but there are jobs for layout and software designers. Not to mention any employees of the company distributing the ebooks. It is still very much an evolving industry. (I say this as someone with some experience in ebook publishing – but I also still prefer to hold a real book).
E-books aren’t creating any jobs, you idiot. E-books have destroyed the publishing industry and caused thousands of people to lose their jobs. As someone who actually works in the publishing industry, I can tell you that they barely copy edit e-books and even that job is outsourced to India. It is e-books and the brain dead people who brought into that stupid trend that are responsible for the death of bookstores. Good job, a88holes.
This sucks. There were already so few bookstores still around, and now there’s one less.
I always prefered Borders to Barnes and Noble. Sad …
Agreed
You keep it up now, uedrnstand? Really good to know.
That really sucks. Now I’m pretty much going to have to do all my buying online since Barnes & Noble isn’t an option for me.
man this sucks first it was video kill the radio star enternet killed the news papers and now the tablets like kindle killed borders next is going to be computers taking over jobs for humans you all see.
Bound to happen. No different than machines replacing manual labor. There’s no going back.
That is why I NEVER EVER use the self checkout line in CVS/Grocery store. That is more jobs gone for actual humans
Where will we all able to go to read the latest Danielle Steel book where the covers are hot pink?!
this is so depressing to me. I spent many, many years at my local Blockbuster. for about five years, my mom would drop me off for two hours every Wednesday. the staff knew me, was very friendly, and gave me suggestions. it was a warm and inviting place that I loved, and it breaks my heart that it’s over.
not to mention, I have zerooooo desire to buy an e-reader. I am one of those people who fully appreciates a physical book and all the nostalgia and memories that each one holds. it’s like a personal friend that I have had for years. it’s the only type of electronic device that I refuse to convert to.
Blockbuster’s still in business, but they sell/rent DVDs, not books. FYI.
Sad to blockbuster stores close down in my city as I spent a good portion of the 90′s renting movies there. Netflix ruined that. Now I just wait til they come out on demand.
I find it depressing that your mom would use a place of business as a free daycare center. I know it wasn’t your fault Alissa, but your mom sure had a lot of nerve.
gwen, you sound like a bitter wh@re.
She may sound bitter, but there was NOTHING in her comment to imply she has sex for money, you sexist pig.
Libraries have become free daycare centers for the parents that couldn’t close their legs.
@oh no – so, judgmental b*tch then?
And, I guess it would blow your mind to know that I am also a woman.
Anybody that would use a store as a free daycare center should be judged harshly. And that is clearly what this woman was doing, since it was every Wednesday, probably while she had a yoga class or something. She could have easily dropped her daughter off at the movies, but that would have cost money. Why spend money when you can impose on the staff at the local bookstore. Oh yeah, because it’s wrong.
I’ve got to come to Alyssa and her mom’s defense. My mom used to do the same thing with me when I was young. I was and still am a bookworm who would happily spend an hour or so in my local bookstore alone while she did the groceries. I didn’t bother the staff, they knew me well enough to know I wouldn’t damage the books, and when my mom came to get me, I’d have that week’s selection all picked out. Some of the best memories of my life and the experience only solidified my love of books and reading.
Borders > B&N,eReaders, etc.
Shooooooooooooooooooooooooot!!!!! I have $1.74 left on my Borders gift card!
If you act quickly you might be able to use that to buy the company.
HAHAHA
I’m sadden by the news. I worked there for a couple of years in the late 1990′s. I didn’t love everything (who does in a job?), but I do have fond memories of the people and the place…
I worked at the cafe there in college, before they went online and went public. Made so many friends and really enjoyed working there. So, so sad.
This makes me so sad. Every Borders store was a special place and I have many memories of good times spent browsing the shelves, reading in leather chairs, waiting for midnight to buy the Harry Potter novels, and eating at the cafes. I feel as if a part of my life has died. Where will bookworms hang out now? I know that e-readers are all the rage, but there is nothing like the smell and feel of a new book.