I heard Borders is closing many of its stores. What have people heard? Google searching doesn't turn up much of value and I can't find anything on the Borders website.
I thought I would post it in case, like us, you are holding on to gift cards you may want to use up.
They have not worked out what stores will close just that Chapter 11 allows them to re-organise and break leases they are in. They will be bought by someone. One estimate I read was for 300 stores to be closed above the 500 already planned or done but if Landlords will deal on lease costs that number may change. B&N is going through the same process but they did not have the cash crunch to have to do it through Chapter 11. I think if you are in medium market and have both a B&N and a Borders odds are that Borders will close.
Wow. I remember being upset that Borders and B&N put the small bookseller out of business, but now it's sad that it's probably e-books that are killing the only bookstores we have now.
When I got my Kindle (yes, guilty as charged), I remember going to B&N simply to browse the books so I could decide on what books to download. I remember thinking, OK, this is NOT a sustainable business model--being window dressing for electronic books. Plus, with the music industry being digital, our B&N's are closing down their music/DVD sections. They're now toys and games.
I'm afraid there's not much of a future for traditional book stores. Even if people want books, they're easier to get online.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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Yes, I think most bookstores, especially in small markets will continue to have trouble. Very sad.
I'll admit to prefering the library and never have bought many books, but if bookstores themselves are in jeopardy, what about authors and publishers? What about libraries? Will there be enough money coming in to support the very writing of books?
One of the news folks did mention if you have a gift card for Borders, you might want to use it soon.
Amazon is the culprit.
Or should I say, the Devil?
"There are too many books in the world to read in a single lifetime; you have to draw the line somewhere." --Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale
It seems like an inevitable fact in the capitalist marketplace. After all, how many people went to the Simple Living Network, read about a book they needed then bought it on amazon for less then Dave Wampler could charge, thus driving him out of business. It's very easy today to shop a "bricks and mortar" store to look at stuff and then buy from someone who can offer cheaper pricing because they don't have the expense of a storefront. My father bought his last two new cars that way, test driving at a dealer and then buying from a broker who got him a better deal, no haggling required.
The book publishing industry has lots of waste. Millions of books get printed every year and never sold, and have to be recycled. The music industry has gone through this and fought the change to digital sales tooth and nail. However, new music still gets out. I love listening to pandora. I hear tons of stuff I'd never hear on the radio, and the things I like I buy from iTunes. Books will likely follow the same path. A much wider variety will get published since the cost to e-publish is negligible. People will find what they want and buy it in e format.
Personally I get most books from the library. Currently I get them in printed format. Once the library starts purchasing a lot of books in e-format and can check them out to a kindle (or other e-reader) I'll buy one for that purpose. Years ago I read about how a lot of libraries were purchasing iPod nanos to use for books on tape. They found it was cheaper to check out a nano with a book on tape then it was to buy the book on cd and check that out.
It's possible mom and pop bookstores may come back filling in the hole left by collapsing big box book stores.
From a consumption viewpoint, I think the conversion to digital is a good thing - on other levels it is not.
Most Borders in the UK closed about a year ago. I wasn't that bothered - I prefer our local, smaller bookshops and UK based chains like Waterstones.
Sadly, many of our own, smaller chains, like Ottakars (taken over by Waterstones) and W H Smith are looking desperate - due in main to Amazon.
Is it really though? So let's compare it to buying books. Sure there's all those books you don't buy, all those trees that aren't cut down. HOWEVER, books are ultimately just paper, they'll biodegrade if allowed to, now the inks might be toxic (but they don't have to be).Originally Posted by creaker
Electronics are highly toxic, those electronic parts are supposed to be disposed of as electronic waste because they'll contaminate the groundwater (I'm thinking they're probably worse than any ink, they don't ask us to dispose of books as toxic waste afterall!). The components for electronics aren't trees (theoretically although not always practically a renewable resource), they're rare mined materials.
The theory is that e-readers will last a lot of time, but electronics tend to be marketed on the planned obsolescence model. How long until it's: OMG you own a kindle from 5 years ago, how lame!! Also electronics break, and they aren't repairable (in theory they could be designed to be repairable I suppose, in reality it's planned obsolescence).
I used to like to hang out in Borders and flip through the foreign magazines or wait for friends, since it was open later than anywhere else (Borders went into administration here in November 2009, I think). However, I can't remember the last time I actually bought something there... even though the place always looked busy, I think a lot of people were just loitering like me!
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