Borders Bookstores filing bankruptcy, closing stores

[MarcB]

Borders Bookstore is expected to file bankruptcy this coming week and will be shutting down 200 of it 600+ stores.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/12/borders-bankruptcy-detail_n_822128.html

It seems really likely that the chain won't survive. Too bad. I like Border's much better than Barnes & Noble. B&N seems so sterile and unfriendly. Not to mention pricier. Oh well there's goes my wish that Border's would open a store in the Shoprite Plaza in Southington in the empty Bernie's Electronics store.

In Bristol we have an independent bookstore called Noble Scholar. It's not that great of the store and the people running it are rude. And they downsized. They moved from a bigger store in the Shoprite Plaza in Bristol to a very small (less than 1000 Square Foot) location in Stop & Shop Plaza.

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I like Border's much better than Barnes & Noble. B&N seems so sterile and unfriendly. Not to mention pricier.

That could vary, market by market.  Where I live,  I see the reverse of what you observe.  The last time we were in Borders locally I commented to my wife:  I think they are turning this store into a Waldenbooks!  Where I live the managers of Barnes and Noble have created these warm, fuzzy nests where you can go and actually touch the merchandise,  grab four books on the subject you want to read about,  go get a cup of coffee and sit in comfortable seating while you compare the books to see which one you want to buy first.  Borders gives me a straight back chair.

The story of books in our time could be written into some kind of tragic opera.  Back when more of us lived in rural America,  we who lived out in the hinterlands really didn't understand America's fascination with books and bookstores.  We went to our public libraries and checked out books that were 10, 20, 40 years old.  Best Seller List?  What the hell is that!

As we hayseeds moved into town,  Borders lead the way in giving us big, spacious places to actually see current books.  Many of us never had the opportunity to know a folksy, owner-in-the-shop book seller before they were wiped out by Borders and Barnes-and-Noble.  But Time marches on and maybe both Borders and Barnes and Noble will be wiped out by Amazon and other Internet vendors.

It ain't gonna be purty! How do you sleep in on a Saturday morning and then wander over to Amazon, get a Mocha Latte and then get the smell of printers ink on your fingers?

[flashback]

i do not buy things online and i hate the idea of the marketplace forcing me to use that approach if i want my products.

i like going to a physical store holding the items i want in my hand.paying for them and having the item be mine on the spot.i like the mingeling of people.

i hope that never dissapears.

[FreddyE1977]

The history of retailers ultimately surviving once they get to this point is not encouraging.
I think they may have previously been through a Chapter 11 back in the days when they
were a stepchild of Kmart.  I have an acquaintance who was a District Manager for them
and he just bailed if that tells you anything.

[Silkie]

To say nothing of the fact that you can sit quietly and privately with a good read that you just bought at the store.  Somehow, the thought of curling up with an electronic read doesn't appeal to me.  Now you know why Kindle has been so heavily advertised, and packaged for television as it has been.  Cute commercial, but that's about it.

Read a book in your comfy chair with a glass of port, and you can go anywhere in the world.  Order your book and read it online and anybody in the world can come to you.  Something to think about.

[MarcB]

Here's the full-list of closures:

http://www.bordersreorganization.com/Reorganization_Closure_List.pdf

My Meriden store is safe!!! However the one my friend Lynne goes to in Southbury is not. :-(

[Dave]

For now, the one in Highland Indiana is staying open, while the Borders in Southlake Mall (locals still call it that) in Hobart Indiana (listed as Merrillville Indiana, due to mailing address, but is a part of Hobart Indiana).  The one in Southlake Mall was the newest store that displaced a few stores in the spot they took over, & this Borders replaced a Walden Books that was in the mall, probably from the mall's inception in 1974.

[WPPCProductions]

Thanks to the internet and Google books that  are killed the bookstores here in this great land.10 years ago the music industry had the same deal.I've never been to a Borders but I enjoy going to North Haven to spend a day at Barnes & Noble.

[Silkie]

I have a feeling that authors will continue to publish hard back and paperback books for people who read.

[Greg Goodfellow]

I'm pleasantly surprised that the one in my neck of the woods (Parkersburg, West Virginia, about 35 miles south of us) will remain open-for now.