Why do so many companies in Metro Detroit go bankrupt?

[christos]

Borders is history because their online product became stagnant and they quit. Basically they said "oh, why dont we just let the wolf run the hen house?" and allowed Amazon to become the monster that they are.

I forgot about that part! Good point- when all else failed and we couldn't find or order a book a customer wanted, we directed them to "borders.com" which was basically an amazon skin. BInc got a cut, but BNN did a better job of adapting.

As for Radio Shack- I think they are a great example of a store that adapts with the times. I spend some money there still because their prices are reasonable, they carry an interesting line of goods, and they have great locations.

[Redleg81]

I forgot about that part! Good point- when all else failed and we couldn't find or order a book a customer wanted, we directed them to "borders.com" which was basically an amazon skin. BInc got a cut, but BNN did a better job of adapting.

As for Radio Shack- I think they are a great example of a store that adapts with the times. I spend some money there still because their prices are reasonable, they carry an interesting line of goods, and they have great locations.

Hey christos-- Borders has been raked over the coals for its bad decisions, and probably fairly so, but I was wondering about your take on their perceived flub with a Kindle like device. It seems like years ago there was some Sony reader out there that Borders tried to push-- Now compared to todays offerings the thing was clunky and probably only like half the features, but getting 'raked' for missing the boat on a ereader format seems a little unfair. I feel it was more of a 'jumping the gun' moment for them regarding kindle-like technologies, rather than being a 'Johnny-come-lately' as most of the media portrays them on this issue in particular.... Since you were an insider, I was wondering your take on this.