Borders To Liquidate

[filkertom]

End of an era.

When I moved to Washtenaw County, Borders was one book store, at the intersection of State and Liberty Streets. Best bookstore I'd ever been in to that point, certainly the biggest. (Yes, yes, Powell's in Portland, OR is much bigger. That's Portland's store. Borders' was mine.) First two-story bookstore. First bookstore I'd ever seen with sitting areas, with a dedicated childrens' section with a play area, with an amazing number of maps, with so very much on so very many subjects that it was like a library except libraries were nowhere near so up to date back then and the employees were smart and friendly and helpful and knew their stuff and it always felt like Christmas dammit and that's why people bought so much at Borders.

I have rooted for Borders ever since they became a chain, a goliath, a behemoth. But now the whole thing is going to go away, and that makes me very, very sad. Because, while I always loved books, Borders really cemented that love, made me want to take a whole hell of a lot of books home to keep, and now it's going to be nothing more than another brand name that's going away.

What are your favorite bookstores? Chains and local.

Comments

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

Very sad, because borders was my favorite local independent bookstore, too.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

I laugh a bit, because the majority of books that I buy, I save for when I am at a con, and I buy from Larry and Sally, who ironically have their home base in my home town of Columbus.

I will also shop at Barnes and Nobles, and sometimes have coffee there, if I can afford the drink instead of buying another book.

Growing up in Dayton, Ohio, there was a used bookshop called The Book Nook. I would trade in used paperbacks for 1/4 the cover price, and books were sold for 1/2 the cover price. Books I'd bought there were stamped with the Book Nook stamp, that of a child reading in a corner. If I brought back a stamped book, I got 1/8 of the price. I never took the cash; it was all credit towards buying more books. The store closed when I was in college, and the old folks running it retired.

In Bowling Green, where I went to college, there was a store called Pauper's Paperbacks. It had rickety bookshelves everywhere, kept up by two-by-fours wedged between them so they wouldn't fall. The owners knew nearly every book in stock by heart, and where they'd be. The Bowling Green council would occasionally try to close them down with fire rules (which despite appearances, they'd pass) and pressuring the landlords to not renew them, and instead have a more lucrative business in place on the main drag.

Pauper's became the home of "strange change" to battle this perception, and gave back Susan B. Anthony dollars instead of ones, two dollar bills, and bicentennial half-dollars with Independence Hall, and bicentennial quarters with the drummers. At the next business meeting in town hall, the Pauper's owner had the other businessmen take out their wallets and change, and see how many two dollar bills, and other "strange change" they had in their pockets. It was impressive. They left him alone after that.

I find to my joy on the internets, that the bookstore is still open, although it is called Pauper's Books now. There are also historical pictures of BG that show Pauper's Paperbacks online.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

Growing up, Borders was always the place we'd go to get out of the heat and while away an afternoon browsing. My folks weren't all that well-to-do, so if we were to pick up anything, it would likely be from the bargain section rather than the regular stocks - the books were just as good there, and why pay full price?

Even if we weren't going to buy anything, while my parents wound up checking through the mall, I'd grab a gigantic stack of books and head to the kid's section, reading there. Even when I was in middle school, I went there and read, because that way my folks could always find me when it was time to go. (There were some odd glances from parents sitting there with their toddlers when I walked in carrying a Vampire: the Masquerade RPG book and proceeding to browse through...)

As years went by, the store got progressively more disorganized, and we didn't stop in nearly as much, but I have a lot of fond memories of Borders.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

The closest I have is the Walden books in the train station in Chicago's loop. I went there a few times. When I was into manga, most were purchased there, I got my Playboy calendars there for a few years. Got NewType until I decided to get a subscription. Lot of nice memories there.

Now I hardly read books, no time for it. I still buy them occasionally. Now I think most will be made at cons where a dealer can have more variety than a whole store. I'd say Amazon was a favorite, but I don't get books there. The problem with online stores is that you can't browse as easily as at a real book store.

I don't know much about businesses or chains, but I know the Borders in the loop was often pretty busy. I wonder if the owner/manager can offer to buy it so it stays in business under a different name.

Wait, almost forgot my other favorite book store. It went under different names and sold books at a discount. It was near where I worked at the time. I remember it would go out of business then reopen under a different name and go through that cycle several times until it finally shut down for good. I didn't buy much there, but it was a good place to go for the classics. I got Dante's Inferno which is 2 inches thick for $10.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

There was a Book Nook in my hometown too. I wonder if it was a chain.

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

Powells, I live in Portland.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Powell's, of course. Third Place Books, Seattle-local indie, both locations. One has a good coffeeshop; the other, a full-house food court and community stage, AND an Espresso print-on-demand machine. University Bookstore. The close-to-campus location has a fully stocked computer store; both have excellent SF sections and art-supply sections as well. The Mill Creek one has a coffeeshop, and if you want maple bacon doughnuts, it's just around the corner. Orpheus Books, Fremont, Center of the Universe. A little bit of everything in a small space, ruled by two cats.

I lament the long-ago-now loss of Oxford Books, Atlanta... not quite the Powell's of the South, but two stories, coffeeshop upstairs, excellent selection, and a ginormous button bin to do a fan's heart glad...

C. Dickens, Atlanta - used to be in Lenox Mall, now in Andrews Square off Roswell Road... rare books... got a few things in there :)

aw, DAMN. SF and Mystery Bookshop, Atlanta, closed 2004. :( LOVED that place. *sigh*

And last but not least, it's not a traditional bookstore, but it houses one of my very favorite writers, Jack Lewis... Litsam (http://litsam.com/). Take the overhead out of traditional publishing, and put back the editing that's been gutted of late... every book has a home before it's printed. Jack Who? (http://www.jaxworx.com) No, it's not fannish. It's still very very good.

[darthgm.livejournal.com]

I am so sad to see this store go. I prefer this chain, as it gave me the discounts of Amazon with the immediate gratification of Barns & Nobles.

They violated street dates left and right with Star Wars Saga Edition gaming books, and I loved them for it.

Now my concern is I ordered a book through them a few weeks ago, expected back order delivery time is 2-4 weeks, and now this happened. I wonder if I'll still get my book...?

As far as other books stores go, my only choice in mid-Massachusetts radius is Barnes & Nobles.

Bollocks.

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

I used to work for Dutton's Books in the early 90s, in Los Angeles. I took about half my pay in books. Note to self: Get the Cake Bible back from a friend of mine... heh!

I loved Crown Bookstore, and my parents didn't mind taking me there for a half-dozen at a time, once a month. Or more...

[tandw.livejournal.com]

Frugal Muse--used bookstore quasi-chain (one or two storefronts in Madison, WI; one in Darien, IL). They'll do new book orders for 25% off, which is nice, and they've got a huge selection of F&SF in paperback.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

I am very sad. Borders was my favorite bookstore. Even when it became a behemoth, it felt must more like a Real Bookstore than the equivalent Barnes & Noble stores.

[rrcgoose.livejournal.com]

We had a small chain in Los Angeles called Bookstar which Dad would take us to all the time. Unfortunately, it got crowed out of the market by Barnes & Noble and Borders.

These days, I go through Amazon for my books. Sadly, I think I've reached a point where, for everything but technical manuals, I've bought my last physical books. Being overseas, getting a Kindle and having books instantly sounds a lot more attractive than having to wait a week or more for a book.

Steve-

[fair-witness.livejournal.com]

Adventures in Crime and Space. (http://www.crimeandspace.com/index.htm) Visiting their old store felt like visiting someone's house. The house belonging to the friend who had even more books than you, and was willing to sell them.

Oxford books

[camric.livejournal.com]

Don't forget my favorite part of Oxford, the used store. It had a pretty big selection itself, I did all my fantasy/scifi book shopping there in college. I didn't use it much, but they seemed to have a pretty decent trade policy.

[morvab.livejournal.com]

McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg Manitoba - independent local bookstore that so far has held its own against Chapters/Indigo and the Amazon incursion. Bakka Books in Toronto. Always liked Borders when in the US.
Used to love The Stars Our Destination in Chicago as well.....
Amazon will get me the books faster but I try to be patient and get them through McNally because I figure aside from the whole supporting a local business thing, going in and pre ordering the new Seanan McGuire there creates more awareness. (I try to do it loud enough for others to hear me without being so loud as to be obnoxious!)

[phecda.livejournal.com]

I was working for Borders when they made their fateful decision to ignore the internet. I was actually one of the sysadmins for the AIX cluster that housed their foray into internet sales. First, IBM convinced them to mov e hosting of the system to an IBM datacenter, then they essentially gave away the business to Amazon. I left shortly thereafter.

Amusingly, one of the jobs I had a couple years later was helping build the data warehouse behind Barnes and Noble.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

My favorite bookstore was Pickwick Books [when I grew up in SoCalif]. They hired people who liked to read - and had mystery readers sorting mysteries, science fiction readers shelving sf - and they would make good reading suggestions.

Then in the mid[?] 70's, B Dalton ate Pickwich Books. They reoganized the shop, got rid of most of the nice workers and kept the drones. They bought less sf,f,h,mystery [for at least a decade - as though hoping the genres would GTFO]. I stopped going there and searched out mom - pop bookshops.

I still prefer non-chain shops, but will check out B&N, but prefer small, non-chain shops who attend sf coinventions - like 'Cargo Cult books'.

[realinterrobang.livejournal.com]

City Lights Bookshop and H. Somers Books in London, ON. I really miss the Wendell Holmes chain, which was really more of an excellent English stationer's shop but also sold books.

I honestly hate Chapters. I can see why some people like them, but they have a habit of locating in big-box plazas and other car-friendly (read: people-unfriendly) locations that make visiting them unpleasant for the non-driver, and they're generally far too corporate-feeling for my liking.

[ladywench.livejournal.com]

Between Books in Claymont, DE. Gregg Scherer. Small bookstore specializing in Sci-FI, Fantasy, Comics, Gaming ... I bought my first non-Christian spirituality book there.

I actually resented Borders and Barnes & Noble because so many other small bookstores died due to them.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

It's a shame for an author to say it, but I hate bookstores.
They turn my eyes green and give me a raging case of the Envies.
This is my personal problem.

[sveethot.livejournal.com]

Local bookstore: The Tattered Cover in Denver, CO. Amazing inventory & they carried an amazing selection.

Chain: Half-Price Books, Borders for their amazing CD selection(found a Smithsonian CD of Colonial New Mexico songs) until the lack of customer service & the long distance got to me; B&N, but the neighborhood store's had its Starbucks close. Amazon for esoteric titles.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

I'm close enough to Powell's that I pay it a visit when I go to Portland, but not close enough that I could just drive there the day something by Seanan is released.

My area used to have some wonderful bookstores, like Perelandra and the Hungry Head, which were owned by nice people and ordered whatever you wanted. One store, the name of which escapes me right now, specialized in rare first editions and autographed copies and the like.

They're all gone now. They couldn't compete with Borders.

I ranted, but adapted. There's a Border's within walking distance of my house now. I've become accustomed to it.

I don't know where I'm going to buy books now. Looks like borrowing from the library is the thing for me for the foreseeable future. It's OK. My home library doesn't have any available shelf space anyhow.

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Hawley-Cooke was my favorite local bookstore. They sold out to Borders several years ago when Borders was entering the Louisville market. As I remember, Hawley-Cooke's last weekend was the same weekend as Noreascon 4, and they reopened as Borders a week later.

When Borders had their massive downsizing earlier this year, two of the four Louisville Borders stores were closed. The two that remained open? The former Hawley-Cooke locations.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

I'm part of the problem, since I do the vast majority of my book-buying used- usually Amazon or Half Price Books. I've set foot in a Borders maybe once, I think about three years ago, and saw nothing different on the surface from a Barnes & Noble (which I set foot in maybe twice a year, almost never buying anything).

When I buy new (EXTREMELY rare), it's either Amazon or, at conventions, Edge Books.

[cainle-bean.livejournal.com]

In Huntsville, AL there is a nice 2nd hand store called Booklegger. Its one of those trade in at 1/4 and buy at 1/2 cover price. At least I hope its still there. Man Booklegger had a TON of books, limited the romances so they did not get out of hand. They really knew their books to. They had hard back, paperback, old, rare, etc. I miss living close enough to go there.

When in Ft. Hood, TX, we had a choice between B&N and Hastings. Hastings was our place of choice.

Now we are in small town AL. We do have a small Books a Million and a small 2nd hand store Book Rack in the next town.

First 2story book store I saw was in Denver area. Actually only one I have seen =p.