Borders Book Stores Dead

I'm so sad to discover this! I love Border's educator's discount.

Like you, I've recently discovered the practicalities of audio books, but there's nothing like holding a tightly bound book and the feel of crisp pages in your hand.

I like having bookstores around, and to the extent Borders is a bookstore and an employer, it is sad. I wrote on Borders closing elsewhere yesterday, so I won't rehash most of those points.

I wish the store was closing because local booksellers were making a comeback, offering jobs to the displaced, and other in person interaction to consumers.

I wish it wasn't because our economy is in the throes of a fundamental shift that essentially eliminates resellers, allowing product to go from directly from the manufacturer to you. Since North America is all about offshoring manufacturing, not good.

This trend is good for those who have a viable career, stable employment, and the only purchase consideration is a lower price. For too many in the grand scheme of economics, this is one more bad sign.

One can argue our forests are saved from lack of need for paper, that our environment gains because of less pollutants generated, and those things, coupled with price of product, are valid counter-arguments. Yet, there are people who harvest the trees and who make the paper, people who set type and print the books, package, and ship them.

I just wonder where so many will find employment in the future, particularly in our rural areas, and what that means for our way of life.

nellewrites ( http://nellewrites.net/ )

I am not at all sorry that Borders is going out of business, except in the case of the employees that now need to try to find a new job. Borders came in, took over, shut down a lot of independent local bookstores who couldn't compete with the giant Barnes and Noble/Borders bookstores down the block. The employees were unhelpful, the atmosphere was loud, the book/gift/toy/food arrangement was overwhelming.

I have a strong preference for independent bookstores. Yes, Indies struggle but I think if they become THE bookstores, it will be different. They are sized for the community. No, they won't have the profit margin of online retailers but they will have employees who love books and care enough to help you get the books you will love, want, and need.

As for libraries, we love ours and reserve books online and pick them up and supplement them from books on the shelf. (and I read on average over 350 books per year) No, it may not look like the books are AT your library, but I bet if you look into their online site-you can get nearly any book that you want.

Retro-Food.com

but the closing of Borders doesn't affect me a bit. All the activities you describe at Borders occur at our local library (minus the food of course). Our library is really a central place in our community where children come to listen to stories, play games, and do arts and crafts, teens check out the latest Twilight and watch good movies, moms come to chit-chat and find a good audio book while their children look for books and do puzzles, senior citizens come to read the paper, access the Internet and pick the librarians brain for the best book to check out. There is a book club, a summer reading program and activities year 'round.

The publishing culture is changing but I think there has never been more good reading out there with it being more readily accessed. The loss of jobs is certainly sad but the loss of a big chain book store really isn't a problem to me.

Is it possible for ebooks to be a good thing and the loss of physical bookstores a bad one? Yes and yes. Both are true.

I love ebooks for a variety of reasons, the least not being that I am listening to one as I type this. There is an immediacy to them, and a lure that says, "Go ahead; multi-task. That's what I am here for." I also believe they can cut expenses associated with paper printing, perhaps ultimately making literature more accessible.

But here is the rub. It is not just delivery that is different. The reading of Ebooks is almost always a solitary activity. Reading aloud to others becomes an even greater lost art. The bookstore is also a place where owners and managers talk and interact with customers, where customers meet up with other parents or neighbors, where children participate in reading circles, where Scrabble clubs meet in some parts of the country. All of this is wiped from the slate.

On jobs. Yes the economy takes a tremendous hit. 11,000 jobs is a great many jobs. "My" Borders closed this spring and a few weeks ago a Nordstrom's Rack opened in its place.

Wanda Fleming of River Girls Studio 365
http://www.rivergirlssoapwandafleming.blogspot.com
http://www.rivergirlsstudio.etsy.com

The truth is Borders was warned by sea changes, and it really did not respond rapidly enough. More interesting, upon their arrival years ago in DC, many independent book stores were angry because Borders was routinely able to cut their prices below the smaller stores. Borders inched a number of smaller operations out precisely because they were able to slash the price for a NY Times Best Sellers list book. Ironic.

Barnes and Noble has thus far been able to ward off bankruptcy. Their online business I believe is considered more sound.

The electronic change has come. What consumers need to ask is: Do I want the option of community bookstores with children's corners, speciality books, and aisles to browse? Am I willing to pay a bit more? Do I relish the experience beyond the cheaper or cheapest? Is there value to bookstores in communities? With luck, we will be able to maintain some semblance of both independent and larger bookstores and audio and ebooks.

They once said people would stop going to the cinema with the advent of cheaper and cheaper VCRs and now online Netflix and On Demand cable. Gratefully, as I sat in Washington's oldest movie house (saved from extinction by the community last year) Friday night for Harry Potter, I could say it is not so... not yet. :-)

Wanda Fleming

River Girls Studio 365

www.rivergirlssoapwandafleming.blogspot.com ( http://www.rivergirlssoapwandafleming.blogspot.com )

For me the nagging concern around BORDERS going under will be the long term impact of losing bookstores (ALL neighborhood bookstores, and our Borders had become defacto just that), just as we have lost Mom and Pop hardware stores to Home Depot and coffee shops to Starbucks. The irony is indeed that Borders was the box store --it was the giant. But something came along even cheaper and faster...Something that we can not enjoy physically, tangibly and certainly not from a community perspective. This is why I ultimately find myself both as a business owner and a mother stepping back from the premise that cheaper is always better. Sometimes, it costs in other ways. Sometimes that "cost" is just not visible...And now I'm headed to the treadmill where I will --like others-- "read"simultaneously --this time to Lars Kepler's HYPNOTIST...

Wanda Fleming

River Girls Studio 365

www.rivergirlssoapwandafleming.blogspot.com ( http://www.rivergirlssoapwandafleming.blogspot.com )

Borders already closed its stores in my area last spring, so I've been going to my local independent bookstore whenever I need to buy a book. I can tell they're struggling too, although with their booksignings and author events, they are truly the last bastion of the bookstore culture. I wonder how long they will last.

I don't think ebooks are necessarily a bad thing, as long as people continue to have access to good quality literature. It's just delivery that's different.

Race and Ethnicity Section Editor Grace Hwang Lynch blogs at HapaMama ( http://hapamama.com ) and A Year (Almost) Without Shopping ( http://www.blogher.com/ A Year (Almost) Without Shopping ).

that nearly 11,000 jobs will be gone when Borders closes its doors. I'm one of those employees and I'm praying now for my co-workers and myself as we look for new jobs. My co-workers need their jobs, as low-paying as they are, to provide for their families and also for health insurance. My community will lose not only a gathering place and source for books and magazines, but much-needed tax revenue.

I'm so sad that Borders is closing, too. But I have to admit, I'm partially to blame for its demise. I did buy gifts for others there (often with a 30% off coupon), but for myself & the kids, I usually got books from the library, used book sales, ebay, or amazon.com. I've even started reading classics for free with the Kindle app on my iPhone. I do love books, but not enough to pay full price for them.

I'm not reading less, but I AM borrowing more books from the library or downloading books to my Kindle because it's free, cheaper and more convenient. Time and money are short these days, and a 40 minute round drive to Borders and the most expensive prices on books just wasn't worth it.

I mostly went to Borders to get my kids' teachers gift cards. Hope they can still use them at the liquidation sale.

Find me at This Mama Cooks, This Mama Cooks Reviews or at The Write Spot.

Receiving the "goodbye" email from Borders was very sad for me. Yes, it is the new reality and I suspect Borders is probably the beginning of a long line of brick and mortar establishments that will meet their demise in the near future.

It is sad what that the closing of Borders represents. Lost jobs, lost revenue locally, the realization that instead of getting outside and meeting up at say, Borders, we are all spending way too much time on our computers and with our TVs in all of their glory.

For me, virtual shopping will never be the same as going to a store, and in fact, I do have trouble purchasing anything online that I haven't seen in person first. But there it is... we go to the store to find what we want, then go home and buy it online, usually with free shipping and no tax.
The retail stores have become the virtual shopping world's best showrooms.

Andrea

www.Kayoh190.com ( http://www.Kayoh190.com )

They're OK, but when they only carry one copy of a new book and the waiting list is two years long, it kind of defeats the purpose.

♫♪♫  ☺ I stand up for everyone's rights, whether they directly affect me or not. Today their rights, tomorrow mine...  ☺ ♫♪♫

Books to me can never replaced by electronics (and I say this as an IT professional). I love to wander through bookstores and wait for that perfect book to leap out at me.

Like others have said, there is nothing out there like the feel of a new book in one's hand, the smell of the ink and paper... There is also the fun of being able to pass a book on when done (www.bookcrossing.com ( http://www.bookcrossing.com ) is the best!)

I have a writer friend (she is pretty well-known) and she is able to share printed preview copies with her friends. She wouldn't have been able to share her latest book in the finished format if she were limited to electronic distribution.

Besides, if I were restricted to electronic formats only, I would never be able to read a book in a restaurant again for fear someone would steal the reader. ;)

I will miss Borders because they carry the foreign magazines I buy all the time. Ever try to get a subscription cheap for a magazine from Australia or Great Britain? NOT cheap!

♫♪♫  ☺ I stand up for everyone's rights, whether they directly affect me or not. Today their rights, tomorrow mine...  ☺ ♫♪♫

Definitely understand your sadness. I had my first date with my Husband at a Borders, every weekend was spent there with my friends, and most of the books on my shelf still retain their Border's sticker. I do have a Kindle app on my Tablet but there are some times that I just want to browse the store for the right book!

Want to learn more?

An excellent follow up on America's independent bookstores. I used to walk to Politics and Prose for books and tea when I was pregnant with our first child. Its owner recently died and our community paper--The Washington Post ran a substantial story on her passing. The store continues to thrive for the reasons mentioned in this PBS piece. Enjoy!

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2011/07/how-a... ( http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2011/07/how-a... )

Wanda Fleming

River Girls Studio 365

www.rivergirlssoapwandafleming.blogspot.com ( http://www.rivergirlssoapwandafleming.blogspot.com )

www.rivergirlsstudio.etsy/com ( http://www.rivergirlsstudio.etsy/com )