Update: Borders will begin liquidating as early as Friday, closing some 399 stores nationally that employed 11,000 people after a deal for the book store chain fell apart. (Detroit Free Press has a good read.)
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It’s hard to think of a less tenable business model than selling hard-copy books at a brick-and-mortar store (with CDs, too! Like Kenny Loggins’ greatest hits!) these days. (Unless you count the alt-weekly business, naturally.) Meg Ryan taught us this in a movie we fell asleep while watching in bed. The one with Tom Hanks and the volleyball, we think.
Anyway, with Joseph Beth already six-feet under, news arrives that Borders, which has some locations around Northeast Ohio and employs about 11,000 nationally in 399 stores nationwide, might close for good by this weekend after a potential buyer fell through for the bankrupt book chain. (Via WSJ)
So if you’re free one of the next few days, head over and buy a cup of coffee and read one more book for free in one of those comfy chairs. It’s what Borders would want.
This article appears in Jul 13-19, 2011.
I can think of a less-tenable business model: any store that sells *just* new CDs. People still buy books.
Our customers ask us everyday whether we are closing. Myself and all the employees of our particular store reassured them that we weren’t closing, but that anything could happen. They’d get surprisingly emotional at the thought of not having their little safe haven of endless books and comfy chairs to sink in. I just realized in the last week that all of these people have been well over 45. I don’t think there has been one person from my generation (I’m 25) that has asked the same question for any other reason than to “gossip” about it, or to just make conversation (bad conversation, though, at that).
I foresee Barnes and N going down like us as well. It saddens me, but the way people read and find books has taken the same unfortunate route as music (over the last 10-15 years) Used to you’d go into a record store, browse through seemingly endless row and columns of CDs, tapes or vinyl to find something completely new to you. Besides the fleeting independent record stores, you can’t get that experience anymore. iTunes, and all the others, while being incredible convenient also strip us of the emotional stimulation (smells, sights, conversations, familiar faces, real recommendations of artists) and we are left with an mp3 that’s really just a file on your iPod or PC.
I’m getting way off course here. I apologize. The reflection is probably due to the fact that after this week, I’ll be out of the best job I ever had. Not to mention finding a new one (I’ve been actively applying for weeks, with interviews, but no luck) in a very short amount of time.
Anyways, thanks for listening.
Borders and Barnes & Noble, simply cannot compete with other online retailers that offer more affordable pricing. They’ve taken the public for a ride as long as possible, now we are wise to their prices.