Comments on: Is Borders Books Going Out of Business?

By: r.west

r.west — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:33:26 +0000

i worked for borders for seven years .as a company it was outstanding, how ever the in store supervison was not good and promos were given on socialism for lack of a better term.the store i worked in was run like a hippe cummne , the barnes and noble near our store was run like an enterprise

By: Jennie Blum

Jennie Blum — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:12:14 +0000

I found the Borders in Simi Valley, California to be a disaster… very unclean and disorganized last time I stopped in. Driving around the town last weekend, I found a new little Used Book Shop called Oddfellow’s Books on Eileen St. Oddfellow’s Books reminded me of the used book shop I hung out in Boston while attending college. The owner is an East Coaster. Nice guy and very helpful. Lots of rare books at fair prices.
No Coffee but he will make some tea for you and it’s Free.

By: Cindy Cummings

Cindy Cummings — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:48:36 +0000

I think Borders should try selling Dunkin Donuts in their cafes. I cannot stand the taste of Starbucks. Only go to Barnes as it is closest to me and the Borders is situated where coming from my area you need to drive all the way down the highway then back up. Still not sure what this hype is on Starbucks bringing in customers.
Should really start using the library.

By: another Borders emp

another Borders emp — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:01:55 +0000

Also, the B&N membership vs. Borders Rewards
B&N: You pay $25 to get 10% off most items and 40% off best sellers. But that means you must spend $250 to break even. And then you begin your savings.

Borders: Free to sign up. You do get tons of emails, but in this day and age, who doesn’t send you emails. The coupons in them however, can be worth it. It varies from 20% to 40% off one item. Also, for every $150 you spend, you get $5 in-store credit. This kind of program is similar to that of Best Buy.

Now the thing with best-sellers is that neither Borders nor B&N is the place to buy them. You can get most new best-sellers for $9 either at Wal-Mart or Amazon. And don’t forget Costco & Sam’s Club. When you’re buying a book for 40% off, no one is really making money. They just want to get you in the store so you will buy something else as well. Wal-Mart can afford to do that, the bookstores cannot.

By: another Borders emp

another Borders emp — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:53:18 +0000

I have worked for Borders on-and-off for 4.5 years now. I still like it over Barnes & Noble, though I have their membership as well. I buy from Amazon, as well as Barnes & Noble, but if the book is at Borders, I will always buy it from them, even if it is $5-10 more expensive.

I don’t think most people understand what will happen if Borders goes out of business. For those people who only read bestsellers and Oprah books, Costco & Wal-Mart will work for you. But for others who actually like to browse books, and “discover” authors, one needs to be in a physical bookstore which has more than the top 20 titles of the week. Amazon is simply not enough, even with the ability to preview a book. That’s probably why a lot of people will come in to a bookstore (Borders or B&N), thumb through a $40 book with their greasy fingers and decide they want it. However, they will go onto Amazon and buy it for $30 because Amazon does not have to pay property taxes, lighting, rent, salary to an employee in your community or sales tax to your state.

Also, consider the number of Borders in the country. Barnes & Noble does not have the ability to expand to cover all of the closing Borders. I am not sure of the situation in other states, but the Borders in both Atlanta & Miami are swarmed bi-weekly with K-12 kids who have to buy books for school (with absolutely NO advance notice from the teachers), everything from the classics, to Shakespeare to biographies. While there are B&Ns in both cities, there is no way in hell they can handle the demand should all the Borders close down.

By: Charles Owen

Charles Owen — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:53:34 +0000

A lot of the talk on this site is hype.

I frequent a couple of Borders locations and they have plenty of customers and plenty of people sitting in the cafe, no less than I see at Barnes and Noble.

For Christmas they actually were stocked with some cool games. I bought some of the games for a local charity drive.

They now offer free wifi just like Barnes and Noble. I will say that I am not a big fan of the Borders Rewards plan but then again, I’m not a big fan of paying 25 bucks a year for a membership either

I like Borders better because for one, Seattle’s Best is ten times better than putrid Starbucks and they actually clean the bathrooms.

Amazon would love to put all bookstores out of business. I hope both Barnes and Noble AND Borders are able to make it.

By: Walter

Walter — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:43:44 +0000

I worked at Borders in the mid 90’s and was very proud of my company then. Our store, in Houston by the way, was well stocked and we always carried a well stocked philosphy and even had a great literary criticism section. Our magazine section trocked and the management strove to make sure you had extensive book knowledge. For many reasons I had not stepped inside of a Borders in years but recently visited my old store. Wow! What a change. The great music section was gone. The mag section was in disarray and there was lots of section (like lit crit) that no longer existed or were really thin. Lots of dead space in the store and lots of tacky remainders. Also there were hardly any customers. I visited another store a few weeks later and it was a ghost town. I was literally the ONLY customer in the middle of the day.

By: Cordan

Cordan — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:43:21 +0000

I liked the Borders bookstore, they have excellent customer service, and I have been with them for a while. I have went to Barnes and Nobles as well but never got the same service I got from the Borders store. Plus Borders Membership is way worth it because you don’t have to pay to get a damn card and renew every year like you do with Barnes and Nobles. Plus you get 2 to 3 coupons every week, and people easily spend a lot, not noticing to get up to 150 dollars. It is worth it in a sense.

Now that being said it would bad if Borders went out of business, Why?? Who wants Barnes and Nobles to be a monopoly bookstore. The only thing that can compete with B&N is the etailer Amazon, and small mom and pop bookstores. Seriously, it wouldn’t be good to see that coming, but who knows what the future holds. I will be sad as many as others on here if Borders did try to give up now. It is too much of a risk to anyway.

By: GBPacker1

GBPacker1 — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:39:09 +0000

We only have a Borders in our town of Salem, Oregon. It has had a music section seems likee forever. They have their own coffee shop with just as good of coffee as Starbucks, but 25cents cheaper per drink. But we have noticed lately that their inventory is shrinking. Sometimes we drive 1 hour north to Portland where there is both barnes & Noble and Powells.

By: Lord of the Books

Lord of the Books — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:08:19 +0000

Let’s face it, Borders is clearly fading away - rather quickly, I might add - into a mere shadow of its former self. With the recent release of B&N’s new e-book program and free wi-fi, Borders will never regain its footing now. And, what the heck happened to their music & dvd departments? They’re either nearly non-existent or altogether gone! They may as well call it a day and bow out gracefully. Rumor has it that they’re thinking of adding toys to their merch mix, which failed them several years ago, when they tried it in their mall division. Now that sounds like a winning solution! Talk about trying to slap a band-aid on a freely-flowing wound. Good luck, Borders, good luck.