Borders

[jjw]

Looks like Border's days are numbered. I had hope for them but this list doesn't fare well.

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/do..._20110216.html

[EastsideQT]

I just found out that my favorite Borders on Kercheval in Grosse Pointe is on the hit list...

[Motor City Sam]

Looks like I'm losing my favorite East Side location [[Grosse Pointe) and my favorite West Side location [[Dearborn). I hate to see this happen. I'm one of those people who still likes to go to the bookstore and browse before buying.

[EastsideQT]

Looks like I'm losing my favorite East Side location [[Grosse Pointe) and my favorite West Side location [[Dearborn). I hate to see this happen. I'm one of those people who still likes to go to the bookstore and browse before buying.

Me too...this is really going to mess up my Sunday morning ritual...do you know if they are going to have a closing sale?

[rencense]

wow even the ann arbor one is closing, I can't believe they wouldn't spare that one at least

[dtowncitylover]

wow even the ann arbor one is closing, I can't believe they wouldn't spare that one at least

Store Number 1 downtown isn't closing, if that's what you are thinking. The one at Arborland is.

[detroitbob]

Border's had 3 major screw up over the years...first and the most lingering was the expansion under KMart [[yes, KMart bought the company from the Border Brothers) which inflicted some of the highest lease rates in retail history on the stores that were developed by the wholly owned real estate arm of KMart. Second was the former grocer who ran the company and ignored developing a successful website presence, Instead of correcting their own meager presence on the web they farmed the biz out to Amazon, their biggest competitor. And the final blunder was ignoring the move to Kindle type media, again, entering that market after Amazon and Barnes and Noble had already hit the ground running. The most important thing to come out of the bankruptcy will be closing some 200 stores and rewriting the leases on the others. I predict after emerging from Chapter 11 we will see a merger with Barnes and Noble...at that point, one name will survive and that will determine where the corporate headquarters will end up. The Pershing fund will maximize it's investment by a merger.

[Zacha341]

Yeah, I went to many an event at the Dearborn store, and purchased books there... In the they hay-day it was a wonderful! Proving to be an ideal location featuring many excellent writers and authors as guests.

Sad to see Borders go belly up it, but it can be argued that it was self-induced largely as management has been increasingly incompetent I hear. The remaining employees may be relieved to know it's finally over... they've been treated poorly per the decline over the last 5 years. I would have quit back then...

Borders hired CEO's with no background in the industry and they were behind the curb, reacting too slowly to changing in buying patterns, etc.

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news...on-20110216-mr

Looks like Border's days are numbered. I had hope for them but this list doesn't fare well.

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/do..._20110216.html

[Zacha341]

Yeah, buying books online is one thing, but I too still like and appreciate the bookstore browsing experience from time to time... It was hard to watch the stores be mismanaged right up to the end.... I think the decline in in-store music and DVD purchases hurt as well. So much of that is done online now... look at how Blockbuster and Hollywood Video stores have declined...

Looks like I'm losing my favorite East Side location [[Grosse Pointe) and my favorite West Side location [[Dearborn). I hate to see this happen. I'm one of those people who still likes to go to the bookstore and browse before buying.

[johnkuhnphoto]

book stores and movies and music and such stores will continue to die down because of the digital revolution. you can get the same stuff online at a cheaper price. and having things online keeps the overhead cost close enough to zero that its pretty much nothing... it will be interesting seeing what the companies do to try and fight this.. i see that blockbuster has started to put those movie rental machines out like red box is doing.

[SWMAP]

While I have been buying real books online such as through Overstock for many years and can't remember when I may have purchased a book at Borders, I did appreciate and heavily use Border's newsstand in the Dearborn store. I feel no loyalty to Border's to buy books because Border's came and, with their newsstand, ruined a wonderful newsstand in Dearborn - the Little Professor. Now the area has nothing for magazines and periodicals. I think that the digital world still has room for magazines and perusing new issues and unfamiliar publications, so I hope such a store springs up in Dearborn now that bully Border's has fallen. Hope it's not too late.

[wolverine]

I was reading an interesting article about B&N, Borders, and Amazon. I guess brick and mortar stores can still work in the books and media marketplace, but not the way Borders ran it.

There's still a large group of people who choose not to buy books online, but also the group that won't buy from Borders because their prices were higher than other places. They also dedicated way too much of their sales floor to CD's, a medium that has been dying since the beginning of the last decade. Even if you were to buy an album, FYE was always across the street from Borders and charged the same prices as iTunes.

What's unfortunate is I'll be seeing vacant storefronts showing up where Borders used to be. Cities can't count on books and media stores filling up 3 floors of a downtown building anymore. Here in Chicago they will be closing 4 neighborhood stores, and leaving only the downtown location open. Word has it, Walmart is opening an urban format store in one of them

[Motor City Sam]

Me too...this is really going to mess up my Sunday morning ritual...do you know if they are going to have a closing sale?

Yeah, it's going to mess up a few of my rituals, too. The Borders store in GP used to be part of my East side swing when I was on that side of town, along with a stop at the Harvard Grill. The Dearborn store was more convenient so it got most of my business. With the earlier closure of the Compuware building store, it seems the company is knocking off all of my favorite locations.

Of course, I've been in mourning over the closing of bookstores in the City since back when the Apple Book Store on Outer Drive near the Southfield Freeway closed.

[Boo Stinking Boo]

I was reading an interesting article about B&N, Borders, and Amazon. I guess brick and mortar stores can still work in the books and media marketplace, but not the way Borders ran it.

There's still a large group of people who choose not to buy books online, but also the group that won't buy from Borders because their prices were higher than other places. They also dedicated way too much of their sales floor to CD's, a medium that has been dying since the beginning of the last decade. Even if you were to buy an album, FYE was always across the street from Borders and charged the same prices as iTunes.

What's unfortunate is I'll be seeing vacant storefronts showing up where Borders used to be. Cities can't count on books and media stores filling up 3 floors of a downtown building anymore. Here in Chicago they will be closing 4 neighborhood stores, and leaving only the downtown location open. Word has it, Walmart is opening an urban format store in one of them

A walmart in downtown chicago, upraor from the the locals????? say it aint so!

[Zacha341]

I recall Little Professor but not sure where it was in Dearborn...?

....I feel no loyalty to Border's to buy books because Border's came and, with their newsstand, ruined a wonderful newsstand in Dearborn - the Little Professor. Now the area has nothing for magazines and periodicals. I think that the digital world still has room for magazines and perusing new issues and unfamiliar publications, so I hope such a store springs up in Dearborn now that bully Border's has fallen. Hope it's not too late.

[Danny]

No thanks to electronic media like Ipads and electronic pad books. Borders just can't compete with these new existing media technologies. It all over. Next will be Barnes and Noble, the last independent book sellers and all public libraries will fall by 2100.

WORD FROM THE STREET PROPHET

In the 1950s when television was in it's golden age, Lots of motion picture companies and playrights sought the end of movie theaters and playhouses. However these companies have to start making situation comedies, westerns, soap operas, sci-fi shows, and saturday morning cartoons and distrubuted over television. Motion picture companies tried to keep new movies out of the television and let consumers see in their local theaters. Same goes with playhouses. Until cable TV came.


Video really did killed the radio star.

Neda, I miss you so.

[wolverine]

A walmart in downtown chicago, upraor from the the locals????? say it aint so!

It's in the lakeview neighborhood not downtown, so there will be a bigger uproar

[DetroitPlanner]

Word has it, Walmart is opening an urban format store in one of them

Walmart is opening up the smaller stores to compete with Family Dollar and Dollar General. In urban areas there is not the land available to build full-sized Walmarts. Even if they could they would lose sales to FD and DG because the latter are easier to get in and out of.

[hermousefriday]

.

I just had the Kindle debate with some friends. This is so sad. I love the experience of browsing through a bookstore/library. You just can't have that same experience with E-books.

[hermousefriday]

So the main downtown Ann Arbor location is NOT closing?? I hope this is correct, they had an excellent selection.

[professorscott]

So the main downtown Ann Arbor location is NOT closing?? I hope this is correct, they had an excellent selection.

Correct. Only four stores are closing in metro Detroit at this time: Grosse Pointe, Utica, Dearborn, and the Arborland mall in Ann Arbor. The downtown Ann Arbor store remains open.

Of course, keep Borders in your thoughts and prayers... Chapter 11 does not always end with the company intact and stores open. But for now, downtown a-squared is spared.

[kelseystatic]

Dangit!! Just looked at this list and found that the Borders store in Lynnwood, WA is closing. Crap, that's the only one near me.
Anyway, does this mean all Borders are gone from Detroit?
I'm planning to go to college there and I love me some bookstores...

[johnkuhnphoto]

Dangit!! Just looked at this list and found that the Borders store in Lynnwood, WA is closing. Crap, that's the only one near me.
Anyway, does this mean all Borders are gone from Detroit?
I'm planning to go to college there and I love me some bookstores...

amazon or your school books store. you can drive a little ways. i think there is a books store in royal oak still?

[kelseystatic]

alrighty then. definitely will miss the Borders though. :P
I agree with the above-mentioned sentiments about the kindle. I don't know if it's had high enough sales to really affect the book industry?
But I am of the school of thought that you should hold books in your hand.
Some people say music's going all digital.
That would SUCK. I will always have my LP collection. It makes the music more real.
And I will always buy physical books!!
[[Not saying the kindle's all bad, it's been good for my grandma who can't see books as well anymore)

[TKshreve]

Speaking to the Kindle and ergonomics, reading books online is just not good. Nothing like a real paperback book in your hands.

On another front, buying books online is almost a slam dunk. Who needs brick and mortar when it's a book? Clothes/used equipment/cars/etc, not so much. Books....... sorry bro - Welcome to the 2000's.