Wednesday, February 16, 2011
I BLAME THEM CHOOSING THE NAME "KOBO" FOR THEIR E-READER: As you've probably read, Borders filed for bankruptcy this morning, and has already announced the list of locations that they'll be closing--some surprises in that they're closing 3 of the 5 Manhattan locations (leaving the East Side major-bookstore free from 17th Street to 54th Street) and a relatively new/massive location at Garden State Plaza in Paramus (blue laws may have helped kill that one). I'd expect those stores will have some interesting liquidation specials over the next few weeks, and may be worth checking out. Mourn as appropriate in the thread below.
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I suggest going quickly. They closed a Borders in downtown DC a few months ago, and the stock of stuff quickly degenerated into pretty slim pickings.
ReplyDeleteShocked, honestly, that the King of Prussia store is among those being closed. One of the highest-trafficked malls in America.
ReplyDeleteOnes relevant to me: 2817 N Clark in Chicago, rather surprising due to the high foot traffic (that's on the south end of the Lakeview neighborhood). Granted, it was a sad shell of itself once they moved half of the fiction department downstairs so they could focus on (HAHHAHAHAHAHA) e-readers. Sadly, also closing but not surprising is the one by the old Randhurst Mall in Mt. Prospect so my mother will need a new bookstore. They're not closing the one in Oak Park though, even thiugh by all accounts it's not very good; I've never been in there since Book Table is only half a block away and is 100% awesome.
ReplyDeleteOh, the triangle store. I know it well. Is the B&N down the block still open?
ReplyDeleteThe Garden State Plaza one is an odd one, in that when they redid the mall to add teh movie theater a few years back, they actually made the Borders much smaller. In addition to the blue laws, it's not a Borders you would go to just to go to a Borders - the mall is wretched to park at, and going there becomes a major trip, not a in-and-out dash.
ReplyDelete<span>Amen. And amen. And amen. You have to forgive me. I'm not familiar with the local custom. Where I come from, you always say "Amen" after you hear a prayer. Because that's what you just heard - a prayer. Where I come from, that particular prayer is called "The Prayer for the Dead." You just heard The Prayer for the Dead, my fellow stockholders, and you didn't say, "Amen." This company is dead. I didn't kill it. Don't blame me. It was dead when I got here. It's too late for prayers. For even if the prayers were answered, and a miracle occurred, and the yen did this, and the dollar did that, and the infrastructure did the other thing, we would still be dead. You know why? Fiber optics. New technologies. Obsolescence. We're dead alright. We're just not broke. And you know the surest way to go broke? Keep getting an increasing share of a shrinking market. Down the tubes. Slow but sure. You know, at one time there must've been dozens of companies making buggy whips. And I'll bet the last company around was the one that made the best goddamn buggy whip you ever saw. Now how would you have liked to have been a stockholder in that company? You invested in a business and this business is dead. Let's have the intelligence, let's have the decency to sign the death certificate, collect the insurance, and invest in something with a future. "Ah, but we can't," goes the prayer. "We can't because we have responsibility, a responsibility to our employees, to our community. What will happen to them?" I got two words for that: Who cares? Care about them? Why? They didn't care about you. They sucked you dry. You have no responsibility to them. For the last ten years this company bled your money. Did this community ever say, "We know times are tough. We'll lower taxes, reduce water and sewer." Check it out: You're paying twice what you did ten years ago. And our devoted employees, who have taken no increases for the past three years, are still making twice what they made ten years ago; and our stock - one-sixth what it was ten years ago. Who cares? I'll tell you. Me. I'm not your best friend. I'm your only friend. I don't make anything? I'm making you money. And lest we forget, that's the only reason any of you became stockholders in the first place. You want to make money! You don't care if they manufacture wire and cable, fried chicken, or grow tangerines! You want to make money! I'm the only friend you've got. I'm making you money. Take the money. Invest it somewhere else. Maybe, maybe you'll get lucky and it'll be used productively. And if it is, you'll create new jobs and provide a service for the economy and, God forbid, even make a few bucks for yourselves. And if anybody asks, tell 'em ya gave at the plant. And by the way, it pleases me that I am called "Larry the Liquidator." You know why, fellow stockholders? Because at my funeral, you'll leave with a smile on your face and a few bucks in your pocket. Now that's a funeral worth having! </span>
ReplyDeleteJust saw that the downtown Manhattan one is on the block as well. Curses! I could get there on a lunch break and browse.
ReplyDeleteNope, that closed about 3 years ago. The space still hasn't been rented, either; it's kind of weird to see the old hardwood counters are still there along with the wall shelves. (It does get used yearly as a Halloween costume superstore.)
ReplyDeleteThe Tribeca B&N isn't too far away from that location and is really quite lovely.
ReplyDeleteWhen I left college for a while in the late nineties, I worked at the store on Union Square in SF, up in Fourth Floor Music. I spent many a Thursday listening to Bob Marley and Sarah McLaughlan while restocking the City of Angels soundtrack and tidying up the Lauryn Hill display.
ReplyDeleteAw, the triangle store was *my* Borders back in the day, and it provided me with many afternoons and evening of blessedly cost-free and climate-controlled entertainment. They used to book quite a few musicians, too. I remember seeing John Wesley Harding there, and during the show he vowed that one day he'd write a novel and solidify his right to play bookstores. And he did. Two, with a third on the way.
ReplyDeleteAw, the triangle Borders was *my* Borders back in the day, and it provided me with many afternoons and evenings of blessedly cost-free and climate-controlled entertainment. It used to host a lot of musical performances too. I remember seeing John Wesley Harding play there, and he vowed that someday he'd write a novel and solidify his right to play bookstores. And he did. Two, with a third on the way.
ReplyDeleteI am so bummed about that Borders, even though I no longer live in DC. I worked across the street and I had many a good lunch hour, post-work and general good time there.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty bummed in general because, well, it's a bookstore. And I've relied on many a Borders to get me through a bad day, an unfamiliar place or a lunch hour. I desperately hope this isn't really our future.
ReplyDeleteWalkable from the World Financial Center? ;)
ReplyDeleteI feel like I won the Borders lottery since the newish one near me is not on the list, though the better one, at the big mall, with the nice coffee shop, is. I count on Borders to carry more esoteric stuff, urban fantasy and that sort of thing, and am hoping I won't have to start ordering that stuff soon. The library never has it, and I'm way too impatient to wait a week for delivery.
ReplyDeleteThe downtown Manhattan Borders was my go-to lunch hour escape when I worked in the neighborhood. Bummed to see it go.
ReplyDeleteI think that was also my Borders back in the day. Oh, the places you'll study!
ReplyDeleteI'm shocked that the ones in SF are going, but the one in my small town is not. I'm very relieved about that because that's where I go for lunch too. The one nearest my hometown is a goner though, sigh.
ReplyDeleteThe one I go to in Nashville's Midtown was spared, probably due to heavy foot traffic from Vanderbilt. But the one at Ithaca's Pyramid Mall that I went to during my time there is being closed. I'm kind of sad about that, it was a cheaper alternative to the campus bookstore for some of my course materials. Ithaca doesn't lack for independent bookstores, and there's a Barnes & Noble not too far away, but the Borders at the mall was far more convenient to campus.
ReplyDeleteOur Fairfax (Northern Virginia) store was spared. I'm happy -- I can't tell you how many date nights Mr. S and I have ended with a coffee and an hour or so of kid-free book browsing. We don't have any independent bookstores out here in the suburbs anymore.
ReplyDeleteI'm also thankful our Borders still has kids' programs. The best kids' bookstore around here, A Likely Story in Alexandria, closed a few years ago. I still miss it.
I used to work at Borders and sad to see the once great place go down this road. Honestly though they've been treading water for many years now so its not unexpected news. I'm sad to see the Long Beach locations go in Cali but I haven't lived there in forever. Not surprised about the Alderwood, WA location though. I've had good times at Borders and they really used to cater to what their customers wanted but with the outdated technology and focus on being much more commercial I've graviatated toward indy bookstores.
ReplyDeleteI'm a B&N shopper mainly, but I'm always sad to see a bookstore close, especially when I think of all the bibliophiles that will now be looking for new jobs.
ReplyDeleteThe triangle Borders was where a certain person in Adam's class laughed at me for having too little money to buy a haircut (cash-only) but enough credit to shop for books. The B&N down the street was where I ran into and briefly stalked Jeff Tweedy (this was after Being There but before Summerteeth).
ReplyDeleteThe closure of both the Westfield and Union Square Borders locations leaves downtown San Francisco with, I believe, no chain bookstores. Is Book Crossing -- approximately the size of a small Starbucks -- really the largest general-interest bookstore remaining in downtown San Francisco?
ReplyDeleteIt's sad and crushing and so many jobs will be lost, and unfortunately not surprising considering the way they've run their business into the ground with bad practices and management. It doesn't surprise me at all that some of the largest cities are home to store closings, as Borders has always rented most if not all of their locations, and so the lease costs alone are enormous. Combine that with the fall of the bricks and mortar music store, the rise of online shopping (and their complete lack of online savvy) and many other odd practices...Well, it's screwing up publishing for sure. I'd be shocked if the next year doesn't feature the close of a lot of smaller houses as ripple effect.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I agree, the Garden State Plaza store is just weird--weirdly laid out, in an odd place in the mall, odd stock. Plus the parking, gah.