OT: Borders Books

Don't know how many of you are bibliophiles, or if you follow Book Industry News.

The Borders Group, running Borders Books, Music, and Cafe stores, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today.

I've worked for the company for 17 years... and my store is one of the ones to be liquidated. So I'll soon be jobless.

It's sad, because I like books, I like people, and I like bringing books and people together.

It's also sad because my paychecks are what I was using to save for the trip I want to take in 2013 when I am declared cancer free... and I wanted to go to Ireland to see a dear friend who will be 85 this year.

Sadly, Borders, which started as a company run by two brothers, forgot its roots.

Johnny posted something here awhile back about being customer-centric, and fulfilling a human need. And that's what Borders lost sight of, I think.

Please send good thoughts to all those dealing with sleepless nights because of the job which will soon exist no more. They're closing more than 200 stores, and that's a bunch of people out of work.

I saw the news, Kiralynx. I hope Borders can emerge from Chapter 11, and I'm sorry that your store won't be one that stays open. I hope someone else will see the location as natural for a bookstore and require an experienced staff.

Many people were upset when the big chains like Borders pushed out the small, independent bookstores (as in You've Got Mail), but I love those stores. They have a huge variety of books, not just the latest thing. Browsing the shelves offers an opportunity to discover something you'd never otherwise think of reading that Amazon and its imitators have not duplicated.

I really like Borders. I can remember when I lived in Hawaii and the first Borders store opened there. My children and I spent many a Sunday afternoon reading.

Sorry to hear about your upcoming job loss and your shop closing. I really like my Borders bookstore and am glad to see that it's remaining open.

I had actually read a few weeks ago that anyone holding a Borders gift card needs to spend it before its too late. I was just at Best Buy Last night and Borders is right next door. I told my friend they are going out of business and she said it did not look like there were. I am sorry your losing your job, its so hard to find employment now as it is. Books are great, and I love them. Maybe you can find a great state job in a state run library and rack up some great medical care, vacation and sick pay with a great retirement.

Hoping things go well for you.

Kelly

ps. I totally understand the trip thing. I am planning a trip to Ireland, Scotland and Wales in June 2012 for my birthday. I want to see my roots but hope that I still have kids in my daycare. Its scary to own your own business...no chance for unemployment pay for me.

There are two things we can give our children, one is roots, the other is wings. Sorry to hear of you job loss.

Unfortunately when it comes to book stores staying with your "roots" doesn't help anymore, as many a local book store has found. The competition with the Internet and big chains is just too fierce.
The only local book store doing well here is a cooking book store that offers classes also, the GLBT stores and the second and book stores.

I'm sorry to hear you're losing the job you love, Kira. I sure hope you will find a way of taking that trip 2 years from now.
I hope its a comfort to know so many of us are thinking of you!

O.

Kira, I'm so sorry to hear that. Maybe a door will open somewhere else.

Bev

K, All the best to you. What do you want to do next? It sounds like you can do well at many different things:

I like books, I like people, and I like bringing books and people together.

I have been upset about all these bookstores that are closing. I have spent many, many hours at one or another of one of these stores. Every single book store in my area has closed! I would much rather browse in a bookstore than do it online as this is now my only option. It is so sad to see them disappearing. Hopefully libraries won't follow suit. Good luck in the job hunting market. Times are tough these days.
Brooke

Kira,
I'm sorry to hear about your job loss. The mistakes the company has made is going to cause a lot of heartache for employees.
I'm not surprised that our local store is one of soon-to-be closed stores. I was there Tuesday night looking for a paperback copy of the book we're using for discussion group, as I'd given mine a way to a new member. The computer said that the store had no paperback copies in stock. I'd already been to Barnes & Noble with no luck, so I figured I had to spring for a hard copy. Seven paperbacks were there on the shelf. So much for customer service; if the salesclerk had taken me to the shelf instead of walking me over to the computer, we'd have found them. Instead she said "sorry, we don't have it".
Their ongoing feud with AOL doesn't help either. If you have AOL you don't get any of their online promotions or coupons.

Sorry to hear your news Kiralynx. I hope some new doors open for you soon.

The borders closing was a shock, I always liked small book stores and used book stores and was bit disappointed when the big box stores swallowed them up.

8 out of 13 locations are closing in Arizona. Lucikly my local one is not closing , it has always had a steady business and I love to spend time with my wife and kids especially in the kids reading area. The borders one at the airport is not closing but thats just a tiny store.

Interesting when you look at the the locations closing in Arizona, all the locations in Scottsdale are closing down along with the one located at the Biltmore Fashion Park.

PST wrote:I saw the news, Kiralynx. I hope Borders can emerge from Chapter 11, and I'm sorry that your store won't be one that stays open. I hope someone else will see the location as natural for a bookstore and require an experienced staff.

Many people were upset when the big chains like Borders pushed out the small, independent bookstores (as in You've Got Mail), but I love those stores. They have a huge variety of books, not just the latest thing. Browsing the shelves offers an opportunity to discover something you'd never otherwise think of reading that Amazon and its imitators have not duplicated.

One of the things about the store where I worked (until 2007, when the best darned manager I ever worked with left involuntarily) was that it was more "local" than many chain stores.

Hurricane Katrina was 29 August 2005. They reopened New Orleans the first week of October. We had our store open 14 October. We were a community center, a place for people to meet, to have some place clean to be, to grab a snack, to have some entertainment, to find Internet access. So we were a chain store, but we were also a community store.

I hope Borders does emerge from Chapter 11. But I'll be buying books elsewhere.

msradar65 wrote:I really like Borders. I can remember when I lived in Hawaii and the first Borders store opened there. My children and I spent many a Sunday afternoon reading.

Well, we loved looking over selections on Saturday night.

One problem is that because of the funding and hour cuts for public libraries is that people have come to treat their local big book store as a library, coming in and reading, but never buying.

My husband and I did both.