Borders is dying

[Haunted hearse]

Haunted Hearse mentioned The Little Professor bookshops.  There used to be quite a few of them. Now there are less than a dozen.  Why? failed business model.  They were a franchise chain.

Actually, little Professor wasn't a franchise, it was an independent.  It did well too, until the  City of Temecula brought in a regional mall, so the city could make money, without any regard for the local independent small businesses in our community.  It's bad enough the city forces you to meet all these rules and regulations when attempting to open a business.  It's worse when all a corporation has to do is rent a finished space, and not have to deal with all the headaches a city will put those who wish to open a business through. 

[Bonomo]

I'd rather pay less at Amazon than drive to Borders or B&N. And often find they don't have what I wanted.

Yup. I love going to the bookstore, it's very calming and relaxing, however there's just not much of a decision when you can click a button and get that awesome book you wanted at the bookstore for half the price or even less. Also my tastes are usually so specific that I too often find that I actually HAVE to find my books online. Still though, it's a real bummer that Borders' is closing.

[Fester]

Actually, little Professor wasn't a franchise, it was an independent.  It did well too, until the  City of Temecula brought in a regional mall, so the city could make money, without any regard for the local independent small businesses in our community.  It's bad enough the city forces you to meet all these rules and regulations when attempting to open a business.  It's worse when all a corporation has to do is rent a finished space, and not have to deal with all the headaches a city will put those who wish to open a business through.

When I was in college, I had a history professor who decided to invest in a Little Professor bookstore.  He nearly lost his shirt when it folded.

Unless the Little Professor in Temecula was using the name without permission, it was most likely a franchise.  Here is a link to the company.

http://www.littleprofessor.com/

[Toy Ranch]

It's funny to me that when Borders started opening stores across the land, people sounded the death knell for small independent bookstores, and for the most part, that came to pass.  It was suggested at the time, that independent publishers and books that didn't adhere to the moral and/or political and/or social outlook of the big publishers would cease to have an outlet for sales.  Now Borders is going away, along with the printed book eventually, and through eBook readers like the Kindle and others, those books which didn't conform to a major publisher's idea of "appropriate" once again have an outlet. 

It's not the same tactile effect of a book, but actually I prefer my Kindle.  Contrary to what many who haven't tried one might think, the Kindle is not backlighted, it's black type on a solid creamy white background, and if you want to read it at night, you need a light.  Instead of flipping pages, you touch the screen and swipe your finger across.  If you have bad eyes, you can make the type bigger if you wish, larger even than most large print editions.  Of course, there's no cost to make the type bigger or smaller, just as there's not on your computer.  If I hear about a book on the radio and I'm out somewhere, I can download it to my Kindle and be reading it in a few short minutes. 

Of course there are drawbacks...  of course..  but books have gotten too expensive, and they are cheaper on a Kindle.  There is a much, much wider choice of what you can read, than what is available at Borders.

My son used to carry his schoolbooks in a backpack that weighed about 40 - 50 lbs.  Now he carries his computer in a backpack that weighs about 12 lbs and all his books are on it.  They're also much cheaper, and can be updated each year with new information. 

I'm one of the people who bemoaned the opening of the book "megastores" and was sad to see the small independent bookstores go out of business.  Many of the reasons I was sad about that make me glad that the book megastores are closing, and free choice is once again in full effect.  Note that books which display on a Kindle need not be purchased or downloaded from Amazon.

[Fester]

Here is an interesting turn of events.

It seems Borders killed itself.
Borders was losing business to Amazon--so what did it do?

Gave its online sales to Amazon!

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/another-retailer-bites-dust-borders-doomed-amazon-deal-163606690.html

[Haunted hearse]

Unless the Little Professor in Temecula was using the name without permission, it was most likely a franchise.  Here is a link to the company.

http://www.littleprofessor.com/

It may have been a franchise, but it didn't feel like one.  The people who operated it were frinedly, and they had used a lot of thie own resources to get this one open.

[general gruesome]

Here is an interesting turn of events.

It seems Borders killed itself.
Borders was losing business to Amazon--so what did it do?

Gave its online sales to Amazon!

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/another-retailer-bites-dust-borders-doomed-amazon-deal-163606690.html

read the article and watched the video, that's insane

[MDG]

'nother post-mortem here: http://www.slate.com/id/2299642/

[Most Horrible]

I was never a fan of Borders with their high priced cd's BUT I would scour their magazine racks for horror mags that smaller book stores stopped carrying where I live. Only one book store in my area sells Filmfax, Horror Hound, and Fangoria. That's it. No Scary., no Creepy, no Scarlet the Film Magazine, no indie British movie/tv/1950's/1960's media mags, no Hello! (love those Brits! Go Wills and Kate!)...nuttin' hunny. Go out and support your local garage/yard sale, Goodwill, Salvation Army, and other thrift stores...oh and of course your Local Library and their book sales!

MH

[general gruesome]

anybody going to Borders when and if they have a huge sale of there stuff? usually when a business goes out they mark things way down, I plan on going sometime soon. They hope to have all assets and items sold by September to pay-off creditors. I have Borders gift-certificates and cards, wonder if they will still be useful? If so, I will practical get it for free lol

[MDG]

I passed the one near us and there was a sign for "up to 40% off."

I hate when they close out a business and have people standing on the road holding the sign--wonder if it's just a way to give people as many hours as possible before they're out of work.

[Terry]

I think place's like Border's, and B/N's just outpriced themselfs out of business. I refuse to pay 12.50 for a paperback, and unless I really want it, I won't pay the unheard of price for a Hardback.

[frankenstein73]

They closed up shop here last year. They closed over half of their stores then and I remember telling my girlfriend they were gonna go under. Their prices were too high to rely on online sales. I miss the store, as stated above they had a great magazine selection. And I didn't mind paying a little more for a book just for the convenience of getting it immediatly, and I like my first editions in primo shape so I could pick the best one they had on the shelf! Not to mention we don't have a bookstore in this podunk town at all now. And we haven't had a comic store in over ten years. So I had to stop buying them. I just find the stuff I wanted on ebay and buy the whole run for pennies on the dollar. It saves me money but it just isn't the same. I've been thinking of starting a comic shop here just to give kids a place to buy them and a chance to experience comics, it will be a sad day in my opinion if we lose pulp to downloads.

[general gruesome]

This is insane

http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=cf485601-632b-4174-861c-c5cc38372cda&GT1=33009

[Fester]

This is insane

http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=cf485601-632b-4174-861c-c5cc38372cda&GT1=33009

It is standard operating procedure.  Liquidation companies come in and reset the prices to MSRP, and then as the weeks drag on and the inventory dwindles, the prices will start to drop.  When Hollywood Video closed here in Spokanistan, the first week "sale" was about 5% off list price.  They did not even discount their rentals.  As the inventory dropped by about half, then the prices started going down.
The whole game is to maximize recoverable cash for the creditors and the profits for the liquidation company running the sale.