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Old 07-21-2011, 05:14 PM
 
912 posts, read 1,328,101 times
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More jobs lost in America's sinking economy.One less job that I can apply to. In all honesty I hardly ever shopped at Borders except on rare occasions to buy magazine or sometimes nothing at all. I am like most I bought at amazon or a used bookstore locally there prices were always higher.
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Old 07-21-2011, 05:18 PM
 
Location: Maine
22,850 posts, read 28,091,495 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PatRoy1 View Post
Walked into B&N recently and was surprised to so much space devoted to Nooks, the coffee shop, toys, games, chocolates, etc. Books seemed to be a sideline.

Perhaps that's where Borders went wrong. Too many books.
Not really. Borders made quite a few colossal blunders over the past 10 years. Off the top of my head:

1.) They expanded at a time when the book market was shrinking. Worse, they went into huge debt to do it, AND signed some criminally bad lease agreements.

2.) They had way too much space devoted to CDs for years after CD sales had tanked.

3.) They lagged behind on the online revolution, even going so far as to partner with Amazon.com for a while. Even after they came to their senses on that one, their website was lacklustre at best.

4.) They seriously underestimate the rise of e-books, and when they finally woke up, it was too late.

5.) They suffered through a series of EXTRAORDINARILY bad CEOs, who were paid insane amounts of money. When the board finally woke up to what a joke their management was, they would fire the guy (again, with a huge six-figure severance package), and then hire a bigger idiot for even more money. The last guy, Mike Edwards, seemed to show promise, but by the time he came on, it was far too late. When the ship has already hit the ice and broken in half, a new captain at the wheel can't do much.

6.) They continued raising upper management salaries and compensation packages while lowering employee wages, cutting benefits, and getting rid of much of the true talent in stores.

7.) They angered and alienated publishers.

In short, Borders did not die because of e-books or Amazon or the recession. Borders died, plain and simple, because of bad management. Just because someone has an MBA and can talk about "leveraging core competencies," doesn't mean he or she knows squat about the book business.
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Old 07-21-2011, 05:19 PM
 
72,819 posts, read 62,167,325 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by edwardianlady View Post
More jobs lost in America's sinking economy.One less job that I can apply to. In all honesty I hardly ever shopped at Borders except on rare occasions to buy magazine or sometimes nothing at all. I am like most I bought at amazon or a used bookstore locally there prices were always higher.
I'm not like most. I try not to buy any products online if I can help it. I've had to, and the process for that was messy. I bought a VHS tape for a certain TV show I liked because the episode I wanted wasn't available on DVD or BluRay. The process took two to three weeks. I want my stuff NOW. That's why I avoid online buying. If I'm buying something, I want it NOW.

More jobs lost is even scarier. It is like no matter what anyone can do, the economy will be bad. There is so much uncertainty. The minute anyone thinks things are going to better, something happens that spoils the whole thing. Sure, some more jobs are created, but then another company goes belly up, putting thousands more out of work. Basically, it's trading one group of the unemployed for another.

Last edited by green_mariner; 07-21-2011 at 05:29 PM..
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Old 07-21-2011, 05:19 PM
 
Location: Maine
22,850 posts, read 28,091,495 times
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Had Borders declared bankruptcy 2 years ago, they might have survived. But the billionaires at the wheel wouldn't allow it.
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Old 07-21-2011, 05:30 PM
 
72,819 posts, read 62,167,325 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark S. View Post
Had Borders declared bankruptcy 2 years ago, they might have survived. But the billionaires at the wheel wouldn't allow it.
Last year I thought things were as bad as they were going to get. I figured "now is where we go up again". And then Borders goes belly up.
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Old 07-21-2011, 05:31 PM
 
Location: North Oakland
9,150 posts, read 10,836,787 times
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I hated Borders from the first minute they opened in DC, in the early '90s. We had Olsson's for books and CDs, plus Serenade and Tower for CDs, all within blocks of the Borders location at 18th and L. I hardly went to Borders. I wasn't going to bother to memorize where everything was in some damned chain store.

One time when I did go, I heard a piece of music I had to have. I asked the nearest clerk where it was; he pointed to a wall on which there were literally hundreds of CDs displayed. He kept pointing to the wall and saying "It's right there." But he refused to come out from behind his counter and show me which disc it was. Since I'd never heard the music before, I had no idea which of the many CDs he was pointing at. We went back and forth three times before another clerk lost it with his moron co-worker, and brought me over a copy of the CD. I bought it, but I never went back to Borders.

I'm glad Borders is dead. How it took this long is beyond me.
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Old 07-21-2011, 09:45 PM
 
Location: New Jersey
15,318 posts, read 17,158,625 times
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What a shame. I could spend hours in Borders. At the very least I'd buy a coffee while there.
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Old 07-22-2011, 01:30 PM
 
Location: Louisiana and Pennsylvania
3,011 posts, read 6,284,650 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jay5835 View Post
I hated Borders from the first minute they opened in DC, in the early '90s. We had Olsson's for books and CDs, plus Serenade and Tower for CDs, all within blocks of the Borders location at 18th and L. I hardly went to Borders. I wasn't going to bother to memorize where everything was in some damned chain store.

One time when I did go, I heard a piece of music I had to have. I asked the nearest clerk where it was; he pointed to a wall on which there were literally hundreds of CDs displayed. He kept pointing to the wall and saying "It's right there." But he refused to come out from behind his counter and show me which disc it was. Since I'd never heard the music before, I had no idea which of the many CDs he was pointing at. We went back and forth three times before another clerk lost it with his moron co-worker, and brought me over a copy of the CD. I bought it, but I never went back to Borders.

I'm glad Borders is dead. How it took this long is beyond me.
It was very sad to see Olsson's go under. I also remember a store in downtown DC called "Chapters", but I think they closed a few years ago as well.

What you described at the 18th and L location is nothig new. The service there was horrible. On the other hand, I have met some great and knowledgeable people at other Borders locations over the years and I feel bad that they will be out of work.

And man, I miss Tower like nothing else.

Last edited by Gil3; 07-22-2011 at 01:39 PM..
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Old 07-22-2011, 02:31 PM
 
Location: Tennessee
37,747 posts, read 40,817,184 times
Reputation: 62011
Hey, buy your books online and then you can sit and read in your pajamas/underwear , make whatever coffee you like, eat your favorite snacks while you read, light the room to your taste, sit in your very own comfy chair...and shop for those books at 2:30A, if you want to. Well, at least the single people can do those things, undisturbed.
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Old 07-22-2011, 03:24 PM
 
40 posts, read 112,890 times
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The Borders stores in my area were pretty good stores to visit. Most of the employees were nice and helpful. I agree with another poster who mentioned too many people using the store as a library.
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