Borders (books) to Shut Down

The Seeker of Good Songs

Well-Known Member
Borders Group Inc. said it would liquidate after the second-largest U.S. bookstore chain failed to receive any offers to save it.
Borders, which employs about 10,700 people, scrapped a bankruptcy-court auction scheduled for Tuesday amid the dearth of bids.
The chain said it will ask a judge Thursday to approve a sale to liquidators led by Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers Group.
The liquidation of the company's remaining 399 stores could start as soon as Friday, and the chain is expected to go out of business for good by the end of September, the company said.
"Following the best efforts of all parties, we are saddened by this development," said Borders Group President Mike Edwards. "We were all working hard toward a different outcome, but the head winds we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly changing book industry, [electronic reader] revolution, and turbulent economy, have brought us to where we are now."
Borders's best chance for survival fell apart last week when talks with private-equity investor Jahm Najafi to buy the company collapsed. Borders's scrambled to find other buyers over the weekend, but no bids emerged that would save the chain.



from: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...54353768550280.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories
 
Yes, I can hear the clinking of champaigne glasses by the makers of kindle and ereader right now. Gutted. :tears:
 
This made me so sad. :tears:

I worked at a Barnes & Noble for 8 years. I always loved going to Border's because I didn't know their system and never felt compelled to straighten the books and arrange faceouts or understood the codes called over the PA, tiny details that drive me bonkers in a Barnes & Noble. And their selection of graphic novels and manga was superior.

Any day any bookstore goes out of busness is a sad day.
 
I like the odor of books in small bookshops..especially new books, not so much old dusty dried up old books.
 
Internet hasn't killed the reading habit as I thought it would, but it's killing books, which is really sad to me. I love to have a book in my hands, the smell and the texture..you can't replace that.
 
Internet hasn't killed the reading habit as I thought it would, but it's killing books, which is really sad to me. I love to have a book in my hands, the smell and the texture..you can't replace that.

No, I don't think the internet will kill off books completely. Books will always exist. However it has killed off DVD and Music sales understandably.
 
I still prefer cds.You know,those round things what play music.Im old fashioned, me..

Yeah, I'm not bothered either way. I do buy odd cds, but I just can't help but be annoyed that multi mega billionaire industries take a large sum of the money that we pay for the music though. grrr! That's why downloading has taken over. It's the new "illegal cassette" recordings.
 
No, I don't think the internet will kill off books completely. Books will always exist. However it has killed off DVD and Music sales understandably.

Neither do I. :) I'm just sad for seeing bookstores closing their doors..movie theaters too, and record stores..
 
I'm not sad about Borders going down the tubes. They get what they deserve.

I remember when Borders banned magazines that contained the cartoons of Muhammed first published in a Danish newspaper.

Here's how Christopher Hitchens put it in a Slate.com essay:

The cowardice of the mainstream American culture was something to see the first time around. The only magazines that bucked the self-censorship trend, or the capitulation to undisguised terror, were the conservative Weekly Standard and the atheist Free Inquiry—two outlets (for both of which I have written) with a rather small combined circulation. Borders thereupon pulled Free Inquiry from its shelves, with the negligible consequence that I will never do a reading or buy a book at any of its sites ever again. (By the way, I urge you to follow suit.) I think it's pretty safe to say that most Americans never even saw this sellout going on. But that was because their own newspapers were too shamefaced to report a surrender of which they were themselves a part.

Yeah, I remember that well. I didn't participate in an outright boycott of Borders, but I certainly stopped going there and spending money as often. And when I did set foot in one of their stores, I recall running into table displays filled with various books in worship of Barack Obama. Books with a different point of view, of course, were hidden away, as if the employees were angry they had to stock them at all. Shrines to Obama at Borders - the worst president America has ever seen! The wrecking ball to the U.S. economy! I do feel sorry for the Borders employees being out of work in Obama's economy. That's gotta be rough. But, um, I guess they got what they voted for. Good luck.
 
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They closed down here in Australia a few months ago. The last title left after all the 90% sales was the Stephanie Meyer book "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner" (or whatever its called)...there were stacks of that book unsold.
 
Borders closed in my town earlier this year. I hope Barnes and Nobles does not go the same way on the book front.
Borders had their problems such as overcharging by 10-15 dollars. But they sold different choices you couldn't find at books a million for example.

For cds we pretty much have best buy, target and walmart left. NOT good.
The other cd stores closed years ago. FYE closed about two months after borders which closed the same time Blockbuster started shutting down their stores [now that was deserved due to their bad practice of overcharging for late fees].
Gainesville apparently has a vegan cafe/used book store downtown so I plan on checking it out soon. We have book gallery west left but not Goerings. Books a million is buying used books now.
Our options are very limited compared to six years ago though. I'd hate to see how non college towns are faring.

I don't want to blame the young adult industry but it was obvious Borders was in trouble when they started displays of Eclipse merchandise with two other shelves devoted to discounted New Moon and Twilight merchandise.
They are selling too many vampire books because they sell and the next year they have stacks of these same books on discount.
Someone commented in the thread about the internet killing the music industry about candy and toys.
Borders had started to do this as well.

My borders had displays of Sarah Palin's book right beside Mozipedia and Obama books. :)
 
Borders closed in my town earlier this year. I hope Barnes and Nobles does not go the same way on the book front. Borders had their problems such as overcharging by 10-15 dollars. But they sold different choices you couldn't find at books a million for example.

For cds we pretty much have best buy, target and walmart left. NOT good.
The other cd stores closed years ago. FYE closed about two months after borders which closed the same time Blockbuster started shutting down their stores [now that was deserved due to their bad practice of overcharging for late fees].
Gainesville apparently has a vegan cafe/used book store downtown so I plan on checking it out soon. We have book gallery west left but not Goerings. Books a million is buying used books now.
Our options are very limited compared to six years ago though. I'd hate to see how non college towns are faring.

I don't want to blame the young adult industry but it was obvious Borders was in trouble when they started displays of Eclipse merchandise with two other shelves devoted to discounted New Moon and Twilight merchandise.
They are selling too many vampire books because they sell and the next year they have stacks of these same books on discount.
Someone commented in the thread about the internet killing the music industry about candy and toys.
Borders had started to do this as well.

My borders had displays of Sarah Palin's book right beside Mozipedia and Obama books. :)

Not a chance. THey have ties to the mafia. They'll be fine. :p
 
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