Borders files for bankruptcy, to close 200 stores

I am not surprised. The way we buy and read books, and buy and listen to music, changed a long time ago.

Ultimate Electronics is closing all of their stores, too.

 

I download books for free (manybooks.net) onto my Palm planner/reader. I haven't read a paper book in many, many years. I used to buy books and download online from eReader.com but after Barnes & Noble bought them out, I quit using them. I like the free books from wanna-be authors, plus the multitude of classics.

 

too bad, i love browsing.

 

I gave my wife a $100 Borders gift card in December. She'd used about 1/2 of it. We read an article in our newspaper Saturday that they might be filing as soon as Monday so she used the rest of it Sunday. We weren't taking any chances. Too bad.

 

I really hate this. Even Captain Picard reads real books in the 24th century. Bookstores are worth keeping even with electronic books.

 

it's interesting, they just closed two borders around usand opened a brand new huge one. all in very high income areas.

 

Thanks for reminding me. I took a gamble on a technical rebound around $1. That sure as heck didn't happen. :-(

 

Maybe it is more the positioning of the stores that has caused the problems.

Here in Australia, and also in South East Asia, go to any mall, and you will find at least one large bookstore. When I was in Orlando, FL, last year, my daughter wanted to buy a book to read on the flight back home (I had packed a couple that I had bought before the trip), so we headed for a nearby mall to find a bookstore. None. Second mall, there was just one little shop in the entire mall, which was a subsidiary of Borders.

I made the comment that I was surprised that there were so few bookshops, to be told that there was a big Borders outside the mall. We saw it as we headed for the airport, but there appeared to be limited parking around the building, and it was not near any other shop - so it was a case of drive to Borders for your books, and then drive somewhere else for any other shopping.

In Asia, it is a regular scene where Dad, and children, head off to the bookstore while Mum goes off "shopping".

 

all three of the ones i'm talking about are in malls and usually very busy. but i have no way of knowing how much browsing goes on vs selling.

 

You are absolutely correct.

Here in Sacramento, CA, the four major Barnes & Noble stores are either a very short walking distance from the shopping mall itself or at least across the street from a major shopping mall, which means you don't have to drive around to find one away from a shopping mall.

Interestingly, the Borders bookstores in my area have financially succeeded because they operate in areas with no much serious competition nearby. Indeed, the Borders store near my house is full of people all the time because it's located just west of the most affluent part of the Arden-Arcade suburb of Sacramento, CA (I participated in the midnight release parties of the 6th and 7th Harry Potter books at this store).

 

Bold emphasis is mine.

For that bolded part, I am estatic - couldn't have happened to a more deserving company. Audio King was always committing fraud one way or another, and it all finally caught up with them. Good riddance to the pond scum.

 

I agree. Don't care much for Mark Wattles. He seems a little slimy. Wonder what his next project will be. Their inventory was nice, but prices were horrible. I would look there, and buy elsewhere.

 

A new Borders opened near our house last year and sales there appear strong. We take the kids there a lot. Luckily it is not on the chopping block.

I believe cost of rent is one major factor in the elimination process.

My wife has Kindle, my son has a Nook. I like the convenience of eBooks sometimes, but for the most part still prefer the feel of flipping paper.

 

I agree on the rent. Alot of the closings here are in high rent spaces.

 

Delivery of physical media is dead. It's just a matter of time for the rest. Another blockbuster is closing by me. That leaves within 20 minutes of my house many thousands of people but only a single place to rent movies other than redbox. These companies are dinosaurs. It's not like they could really have done much, their business is just not needed anymore, like typewriters or non-digital cameras.

Yes, you'll still have fringe users even decades from now, as you do with vinyl music, but anything that can be delivered digitally can be delivered faster and cheaper. That's why it will win.

 

i'm still waiting for the paper version of p/c.