Borders going out of business

[imref]

We hit Borders Books in Manassas yesterday and found chaos.  Most books are 10% off, some are 20%.  The place is a mess, and they've taken away the computers that let you find stuff in the store (and the staff is too busy to help).

The prices, even with the discounts, aren't very good - you can typically do better on Amazon even with shipping.  We cashed in a bunch of gift cards but didn't buy anything out of pocket.

[MarquisDeSade]

Yeah, we hit up the one in Fairfax and didn't find much outside of a couple of graphic novels at 20% off.  It's going to be really disappointing once they go to 40% off.

[The Chief]

I thought Borders had BEEN out of business?  All the ones in Richmond did the clearance thing last year or the year before.  Haven't looked lately but I assumed they shuttered up.

[imref]

I thought Borders had BEEN out of business?  All the ones in Richmond did the clearance thing last year or the year before.  Haven't looked lately but I assumed they shuttered up.

they announced last week they are closing their remaining 400 stores after being unable to find a buyer.

[OldChelsea]

I thought Borders had BEEN out of business?  All the ones in Richmond did the clearance thing last year or the year before.  Haven't looked lately but I assumed they shuttered up.

There was a first wave of closures some months ago while they were looking for a buyer - among them a good-sized one in L street just a block west of Farragut North, and several others in this area.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

The downtown DC location closed months ago...but their website is still up and running.  I just cashed in some gift cards for some maps.  I also see that Borders is plugging their new reading device, which makes about as much sense as buying a Betamax VCR or a Zipdrive.

I thought Borders had BEEN out of business?  All the ones in Richmond did the clearance thing last year or the year before.  Haven't looked lately but I assumed they shuttered up.

[MarquisDeSade]

More like a Jaz drive.  The only thing the Kobo has going for it is that the name reminds me of Kiss "Alive".

[BerkeleyNat]

The one is Hagerstown is still open. I'm gonna wait a til the prices drop to 40% or more off.

[Obed_Marsh]

I do wish they would devolve into independent, family owned bookstores again but ain't going to happen.

[Dixon Ward]

sucks. i guess that pretty much leaves barnes and noble as the only brick and mortar book store chain.

[BerkeleyNat]

sucks. i guess that pretty much leaves barnes and noble as the only brick and mortar book store chain.

Books-A-Million is still around. I have one about 5 minute from my house. I always liked Borders better than BAM though.

[tomterp]

Books-A-Million is still around. I have one about 5 minute from my house. I always liked Borders better than BAM though.

Me too.  The one in Crystal City had better selection than any BAN I've been to.

[MarquisDeSade]

Isn't Books-a-million the pseudo-christian store?

[PANatsFan]

Isn't Books-a-million the pseudo-christian store?

I think they have a large Christian selection, but they also discount off the cover price like Crown Books used to.

[tomterp]

I think they have a large Christian selection, but they also discount off the cover price like Crown Books used to.

The Hafts created a monster.

Dart Drug -> Trak Auto -> Crown Books -> which sparked the superstore rage. 

Although credit must also be given to Hechingers, which preceded Home Depot and Lowe's.

[imref]

Hechingers - wow, forgot all about that one. The store in fairfax "never" had anything I needed. 

[Mathguy]

I always had good luck in Hechingers at Bailey's Crossroads.  It so so much better than Home Depot.  There are no Lowe's in Arlington or Falls Church

Hechingers - wow, forgot all about that one. The store in fairfax "never" had anything I needed. 

[1995hoo]

Hechingers - wow, forgot all about that one. The store in fairfax "never" had anything I needed. 

I liked Hechinger's except for one thing: No two of them were ever alike inside. While I recognize that any store is going to have to make SOME adaptations to work within the available property, part of the point of a chain store is that there's some level of predictability when you go in there such that you have some reasonable sense of where to find things. At the Home Depot, for example, the lighting is usually in the back left corner relative to where the main entrance is. At Wegmans the meat and seafood are either to the far right or the far left. Hechinger's wasn't like that—there was no rhyme nor reason to where you might find stuff in any given store, and it made shopping there a pain in the arse.

My favorite hardware store remains Fischer's in Springfield. If you need some oddball part, go there.

I thought Borders had BEEN out of business?  All the ones in Richmond did the clearance thing last year or the year before.  Haven't looked lately but I assumed they shuttered up.

Borders had been attempting bankruptcy "reorganization," also commonly called "Chapter 11" after the part of the federal bankruptcy code that governs. It usually involves a combination of shuttering stores (which, as you note, Borders did) and restructuring debt to try to satisfy the creditors that the debts will be paid, even if not immediately, the idea being that as part of getting the reorganization plan approved you have to show how the plan will allow you to pay the debts. Borders wasn't able to do that and they're now liquidating the entire chain, although there are reports that Books-a-Million might be interested in some Borders stores.

I always liked Borders better than Barnes & Noble, though I can't really give you a firm reason why. I just always felt more comfortable at Borders. But for Christmas last year my mother and father sent me a Kindle, so I haven't been to a bookstore in a while and I guess I'm as guilty as anyone else in the demise of Borders.

[MarquisDeSade]

...I guess I'm as guilty as anyone else in the demise of Borders.

You were the one that recommended them have a competitor handle their online division?  You bastard! 

[OldChelsea]

Guess I'm just going to have to wait till my next trip to London when I'll be shopping at Foyles (the world's finest bookstore).

[1995hoo]

You were the one that recommended them have a competitor handle their online division?  You bastard! 

I was referring more to people who have moved to e-books rather than going to the store to buy regular ones, but you do make a very good point. They dropped the ball on that one.

I can think of one more book I want to buy in hardcover—the next Wheel of Time book when it is released. I have the first 13 volumes in either paperback or hardcover and so I'd like to complete the set with the final volume when it's published. But otherwise, I have to say the e-book format sure is convenient, especially when the book you're reading would be over 1000 pages long in hardcover (the first book I read on the Kindle, The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, fits that description).

[PatsNats28]

I was referring more to people who have moved to e-books rather than going to the store to buy regular ones, but you do make a very good point. They dropped the ball on that one.

I can think of one more book I want to buy in hardcover—the next Wheel of Time book when it is released. I have the first 13 volumes in either paperback or hardcover and so I'd like to complete the set with the final volume when it's published. But otherwise, I have to say the e-book format sure is convenient, especially when the book you're reading would be over 1000 pages long in hardcover (the first book I read on the Kindle, The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, fits that description).

ANOTHER WHEEL OF TIME FAN ON WNFF!!

You're the first other of our kind I've found.

[1995hoo]

ANOTHER WHEEL OF TIME FAN ON WNFF!!

You're the first other of our kind I've found.

For a while it took so damn long for the books to come out that it would be easy to see why people would fall away. I'm really interested in seeing how Sanderson ties up all the disparate storylines. It seems like it's so sprawling that trying to wind it up in one more book will still be difficult.

The other thing I'm wondering is what the point is of some of the parts of the world from the Big White Book that aren't directly addressed in the story (the Land of Madmen and Shara being the two that most readily come to mind). Jordan said before he died that the lone scene that already occurred in Seanchan in Fires of Heaven where Rand slept with Aviendha is going to be the only scene on that continent, and that's a bit of a disappointment to me since he went to to the trouble to establish this big elaborate society.


In the meantime, I just downloaded the first of George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books to my Kindle. I've heard of them but have never read any of them. Several people recommended them, so that's next in my queue. Earlier this year I discovered Patrick Rothfuss, author of the Kingkiller Chronicle series. Only the first two books have been published. I read them both on the Kindle and really enjoyed them. I highly recommend them if you like Jordan or Sanderson or Terry Goodkind.

[PatsNats28]

I definitely agree with the first part, I feel like the main problem with WoT is that, as I imagine it, a book has a certain volume, geometrically. Jordan expanded so wide that in order for that volume to stay the same, it's a wide rectangle (where vertical = plot, horizontal = depth, plotlines) instead of a square.

Ignoring my random analogy, I completely agree with you on the other part. I've always been interested in Shara especially. I was actually just checking something out on the Land of Madmen, and interestingly enough, the WoT planet is round, meaning that I think if you sail east from Seanchan, you get to Shara. I wonder if they've made contact.

A Song of Fire and Ice is a good series, my only thing with it (I haven't gotten the 5th book yet, was actually planning to go to Borders this week since it's 20% off there) is that the books get less interesting as they go; the first is excellent, the second is good, the third is better than the second, and then the fourth is eh. You'll love A Game of Thrones though.

I've read Terry Goodkind, I used to like that series when I was younger, but as I got older, I realized that he essentially had a tea partyist agenda which kinda turned me off.

[Nathan]

For a while it took so damn long for the books to come out that it would be easy to see why people would fall away. I'm really interested in seeing how Sanderson ties up all the disparate storylines. It seems like it's so sprawling that trying to wind it up in one more book will still be difficult.

The other thing I'm wondering is what the point is of some of the parts of the world from the Big White Book that aren't directly addressed in the story (the Land of Madmen and Shara being the two that most readily come to mind). Jordan said before he died that the lone scene that already occurred in Seanchan in Fires of Heaven where Rand slept with Aviendha is going to be the only scene on that continent, and that's a bit of a disappointment to me since he went to to the trouble to establish this big elaborate society.


In the meantime, I just downloaded the first of George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire books to my Kindle. I've heard of them but have never read any of them. Several people recommended them, so that's next in my queue. Earlier this year I discovered Patrick Rothfuss, author of the Kingkiller Chronicle series. Only the first two books have been published. I read them both on the Kindle and really enjoyed them. I highly recommend them if you like Jordan or Sanderson or Terry Goodkind.

I've been thinking about starting that series as well.