After opening its first store 40 years ago in Ann Arbor, Borders, the nations 2nd largest book store will begin liquidating its 399 stores as early as this Friday.
Gah. I'm gonna miss their in-store concerts and book readings/signings. I'm glad I have local bookstores for such events but I don't know how long those will survive.
I am really sad to hear this My favorite family-owned bookstore back in Ohio just closed recently too. I always used to buy things there if I could, even if it was a little more expensive than Amazon...I guess it couldn't be helped.
I'm very sad by this. I love borders! The one near me closed down and last I heard they were just closing about 1/4 of their stores to stay afloat. It's disappointing that they won't be around anymore!
I'm very sad by this. I love borders! The one near me closed down and last I heard they were just closing about 1/4 of their stores to stay afloat. It's disappointing that they won't be around anymore!
Yeah, they closed their least profitable stores in a last ditch effort, but that did not work.
Of course the reason is, that WE did not spend enough $ for the company to stay in business. Buying a few cups of coffee while reading their magazines or books just wasn't enough.
The market has no sentimentality, does it.
I got a Kobo for Christmas. *sigh* My Man doesn't really know a lot about books, and didn't know he should have gotten the Barnes and Noble or the Amazon eReader.
I haven't been able to directly download books since January, and now it's going to be completely obsolete. Shit.
I used to love walked around Borders looking at all the books. We don't have any independent books store near my house.
oh wow! i heard about that today. it's sad, but places like amazon have made getting books (and other stuff) so much more easy and convenient to obtain.
First record stores were affected, now bookstores. It's sad to me really. Hopefully, at the very least, the small business that sell books can stay open and get by. The romance of a book cannot be met on a kindle or a monitor, for me.
I wish I could feel worse about this...but I can't.
I'm a reader as much as the next person (couple books a week or so), but the price was just getting to be a pain in the arse. $8-25 a book? Storing the books and then moving them? What about libraries? It just seemed that we're moving past books onto other things, like e-readers.
Books are just becoming burdensome.
When the Borders down the road closed in the initial closings last year, they did about a month's worth of business that weekend. I wonder how much of that was a show of support or was because there was a discount. My roomie used to work at that store and talked to a former manager there; she said that if they just reduced the prices 20% they would've seen more business.
Now that Borders is gone though, I hope this helps the other big chain, Barnes and Noble. I have the Nook and love it! My thought on this is that now that there's only one chain of stores to compete with Amazon. Compete with = buy out later.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate Borders...loved them actually. But media is evolving, it happens. I really feel bad for the employees though.
No screen can take the place of the feel, the smell, the beautiful heaviness of writing on paper in your hands.
I have an eReader (the fucking KOBO, which will not be useless!) but I have only bought 2 or 3 "books" for it (partly because the procedure for loading books on it is so burdensome, as the immediate download hasn't been available in over 6 months)
I LOVE real books and I'll never stop reading them. I don't and won't read books on my computer (seeing as I don't have a lap top, only a desk top and I like to read in bed, in the tub, in the living room, in the kitchen etc.) I will not give up on books. Never.
I am sad. I preferred Borders to Barnes and Noble. There are no independent book store near my home, so it was between Borders and B&N. I know Amazon is a multiconglomerate, but damn, they are inexpensive and deliver lightening fast.
