It's a bummer that Borders has declared bankruptcy and will soon start liquidating their stores. I went to UM where the first Borders was created and actually did a project on their reputable business management. Great company to work for... It's a shame that a store that I've been going to since I was in first grade will no longer exist. A simple and revolutionary business model of big box book stores. Borders was the first of its kind even though it was always number 2 to its NYC big brother, Barnes & Noble. Surprisingly, I felt more at home in a Borders than a B&N and we had a couple of them in the Main Line (Where I'm originally from). Sucks that the economy is going to take another hit with unemployment and more real estate collapsing. Borders’ remaining portfolio includes 259 full-line Borders locations and 114 Borders Express and Waldenbooks stores. Those spaces will blow out and certain malls, strip centers, retail center, power centers that have kick-out clauses with their occupancy lowering to a certain % and/or in the event Borders leaves, tenants have the right to terminate their contract and bounce.
The overall effect is negative because a niche in the retail sector will forever be changed as physical bookstores are considered obsolete and everyone will turn to Amazon, iTunes, etc. to get their book game on. This move will probably save trees, but overall publishers, authors, book industry will be hurt tremendously. Borders helped progress the book industry through its chill reading atmosphere. I remember going every day after Sunday mass (yes, I was and am to some degree still religious) with my family and spending 2-3 hours reading children's books and usually everyone left with something or at least spent $ in cafe. The rise of book sales increased movies/music sales too since there was a section for that at each Borders.
It's a sad truth, but an era has ended and might have been saved if there weren't so many Borders stores around your area. Let's be honest with ourselves, you only need 1 Borders store within a 30-40 mile radius, unless it's a wealthy town where people are primarily college educated. Borders has a store in the mall and also an express one!!! Are you kidding me?!?!? This isn't Starbucks where people crave caffeine or the desire to show off their Starbucks cup (kudos to the 'bucks, you guys are the epitome of branding). I'm sure profit margins went down in areas like KOP mall where a store and express were within a 10 minute walk. Things like that don't make sense. And Borders failed to transition into the Kindle era, instead relying on their physical book fan base to keep them afloat. Hey, I like to read books (no homo), but if I can efficiently read and store them on my Kindle, I'd prefer that over any hardcover brah!
In the end, it's a bummer that the Borders era ends and a new Kindle era begins.
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