The (Self-inflicted) Demise of Borders | Late to Every New Market | History in the Dark

[@giorgioandmusic]

Dude I feel like this channel could be a whole college course about failed businesses and I’m here for it. If you were a professor I’d be so stoked to be in this class!!!

[@SnowmanTF2]

If anything the people that need more education is shareholders, but it is not like all of them are even planning to be invested in individual businesses long-term. The higher up business people have plenty of education but often are prioritizing short term results over long term company health, customer relations, and employee relations.

[@SimonTekConley]

Don't read the wiki for borders

[@imogendedo8296]

agreed. this is how i would be teaching this i i was a college instructor.

[@robfarleyli]

I worked at Borders until 2009 (was let go in the first round of store-level layoffs). i knew the writing was on the wall when in 2008 they ended the employee perk of free coffee to charging us $0.30 a cup.

[@Mezcon2]

I actually remember an employee telling me something similar, how the writing was on the wall. I felt so bad for that staff.

[@ryangossett8211]

I left in October of 2008 as I also saw the writing on the wall.

[@jerseywalcott6408]

Borders was like study hall. It was ok to study there but do not treat your stock as reference books. The stock was dirty and worn and unsellable.

[@gumity]

I worked at one until it closed in 2011 with the restructuring, and I remember we all saw the writing on the wall very clearly the year prior when the signage got really cheap. I went to pull one out and it ripped, and I just looked at the manager and went "we're going to close aren't we?". The following spring that's exactly what happened. I just felt that the signs were always pretty decently well made compared to some other places I worked prior, so that was a huge tell.

[@oooh19]

@@robfarleyli 30 cents a cup is honestly really awesome! It’s like 1920s or 30s pricing lol

[@anthonyruby2668]

Some Barnes & Nobels have the cozy welcoming atmosphere like Borders, others have the Books-A-Million "Buy it and get out" atmosphere

[@scotsmith2391]

"buy it and get out" 😆🤣

[@madmarduk1936]

Books A Million used to have a coffee and chill area too but they closed it down. It was good coffee too.

[@anthonyruby2668]

@madmarduk1936 guess it kinda worked having the magazines in the back for BAM. But magazines are not milk and butter and more of an impulses by, so B&N has it the front to not take a chance

[@TheDeluche]

I was there during their liquidation I got so many good books for dirt cheap it was a great time but I hated to see them go. In the end, they were also trying to liquidate their furniture so I asked if I could buy one of their hanging signs and they sold the “Newstand” sign to me for like $10! Still hangs in one of the rooms to this day LMAO

[@kolonarulez5222]

Yes one thing that surprises most but makes sense is closing stores love folks who buy the shelves, displays, even mannequins. It's cash for them and now they don't need to worry about transport/storage.

[@cosmictraveler1146]

@@TheDeluche omg wish I was an adult and one was close to me when I first moved out lmao

[@sabrina.natalie]

Aw! That’s awesome. I bet that “Newstand” sign is so cool 😜❤

[@petechau9616]

What location?

[@nopamineLevel100]

On the upside, the readership of physical books has never gone down despite the rise in ebooks. The main issue was that people were buying their books online for cheaper than the actual bookshops.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

If _You’ve Got Mail_ was made this decade, Tom Hanks’s role would be as an executive for Amazon and not for a brick-and-mortar bookstore chain, however large.

[@madmarduk1936]

Yeah Amazon used to specialize in books and they were cheap. They aren’t anymore. I have a few ebooks but I prefer physical. I read too much to be staring into a screen like that for that long. I work on a computer all day but trying to stare at and read constant text is very different. It’s horrible for your eyes.

[@nasaboy87]

"Does it matter if you hold the DVD" YES, yes it does. If you have the DVD/Blu-ray you own it. Any other way you are just paying for the right to view it, which can be taken away at any time.

[@thistle76]

Yep just paying to rent it...look at all those streaming services that just dropped all your library of movies that you paid for and are now gone. I love physical copies!!!

[@stevenhuntley8706]

*this does not apply to games, as even holding a physical copy is not considered owning

[@MrChristianDT]

Besides, my Borders had dvds that I couldn't find at any other physical store in my region.

[@trappestarrgaming3422]

Yea that's y they're stopping releasing physical media in games and movies. Soon we wont he able to own anything. Ik their working on antipiracy tech that will delete the media the moment you go online with it on your hardrive

[@elliot20201]

Agree although I unabashedly will download movies or shows I like that I've bought digitally, just in case they do get taken away

[@ChrisGoosman]

I've lived in the Ann Arbor area for over 30 years, in fact, the downtown building my office is in was the corporate HQ of Borders for a time. It was next to their flagship store (just a block from their original store). My servers are in the room that once housed their servers. Another reason for Border's decline was that in the late 90's, in an effort to cut costs, they began to fire long-time, extremely knowledgeable store workers. Beyond simply buying a book, you could get extremely good recommendations from the staff. Each section was led by at least one person with deep knowledge of the subject areas. I had several friends who worked there, many with advanced degrees, and Borders paid them well. After a CEO change, and I believe an investment by some private equity, costs had to be cut and these knowledgeable sales people were kicked to the curb, replaced by minimum wage folks who didn't know Dickens from Dick Dale.

[@CarlSmith-p2c]

Between 2006 and 2011, my three favorite stores closed down: (1) Tower Records, (2) an art history bookstore in Washington, DC that had a good selection from Europe, and (3) Borders. It just hasn't been the same since.

[@franklinkz2451]

Your life sounds extremely boring lol

[@Jhordanshmu]

​@@franklinkz2451People have different interests than you 😲🤯

[@thistle76]

My favorite stores were waldenbooks, borders, a few collectible stores, a pewter store and a few video game stores... most are gone... but on the bright side I save money...😂😂😂

[@stevenhuntley8706]

My grandfather took me to tower records as a kid whenever he would get a new Rammstein CD. There's no point to this, it was just nice.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

⁠​⁠@@stevenhuntley8706Your grandfather liked Rammstein? Honestly I thought they’d have few fans born before 1970 but maybe it was for someone else

[@c.rutherford]

I never passed a Borders without stopping in in any city. It was a neat store. They always had books and things that Barnes & Noble didn't, btw. So it was worth going to both if you were looking for something

[@abubaca2683]

It's disgusting that they are allowed to pay the ceo that much money and yet their creditors remain unpaid.

[@Carnyzzle]

But if the CEO took a pay cut he'd have one less yacht he'd be able to buy

[@GR-bn3xj]

Regardless of how much the CEO made, they still would have gone under. Yes it sucks they make so much, but it usually doesn't affect whether a company goes under.

[@abubaca2683]

@@GR-bn3xj it's not that they are paid so well, us that he got a bonus for failure.

[@knoname7778]

It's a common theme with these big corporate companies. The upper management always seems to pay themselves big monies for failing while everyone else gets Fk'd

[@DiamondKingStudios]

@@abubaca2683”You let us all down. Anyway, here’s a couple million for your troubles.”

[@christioncofield4612]

This hits me so in the feels. I remember my mother taking me to borders once in a while back in the day. I felt like I was in heaven as I loved books as a kid. It’s also how I got into Axis & Allies, as they were selling miniatures at the place when they were closing down.

[@andrewfusco8580]

Axis & Allies?! Takes me back. I remember being immensely frustrated by the difficulty of playing as the Allies and feeling guilty about playing as the Axis purely out of my need to win.

[@bernielomax4702]

Hits you in the feels? STFU.

[@christioncofield4612]

@@andrewfusco8580 I still am into it. Me and my best friend always try to take time out of our schedule to play some rounds

[@atomicbambam]

Some of the footage is from Borders 15 in Atlanta. I spend 17 years working there

[@madmarduk1936]

Atlanta took some big hits in 90’s 2000’s book scene. Lost Oxford Books and then Borders. Without competition Barnes & Noble became trash.

[@atomicbambam]

@@madmarduk1936I’d always heard Oxford expanded beyond their market share with all the national bookstore chains entering Atlanta. We hired a bunch of Oxford employees after it shut down. Borders limped along until the late 2000s then started shutting down smaller stores until only the Ponce de Leon store remained. It closed in 2011. When I started working for them it was a much smaller store on Roswell Road. I think it was only the 3rd store opened by the chain. We didn’t sell music or video until we moved the store to the bigger location on Peachtree Road.

[@JTRemillard]

Borders was a genuine third space for a generation who has watched our third spaces disappear. We could spend hours in there browsing, getting a coffee, and reading books and magazines to decide which ones to buy. I propose opening designated spaces for hanging out with coffee shop, bookstore, music/video store, lounge, gym, etc. Charge a fee like health clubs to keep out the riff raff.

[@umkm2k]

I worked at Borders in the early-mid 00's and got to see the downfall in real time. While DVD and CD sales were huge, outsourcing to Amazon was a mistake from day 1. The higher-ups might have been clueless, but every floor employee knew it. Also, I think that the huge wave of pirating music was far more deadly than the iPod. I was also there when (at least in the stores near me) they switched management style. When I started, loitering was encouraged and the relaxed style was a big draw. But then they suddenly changed to pushing sales and setting mandatory quotas for cashiers to collect customer emails. If you started getting random Borders emails from about 2004 on, that was just us plugging random emails into the computer so we didn't get written up. That's also around the time I got written up for going to my grandpa's funeral. It started out as a fantastic job that I legitimately loved. But it became a sad, dying, corporate retail slog that I was happy to get fired from (when they changed my schedule on my day off and never told me I had a shift the next day)

[@Gen-yh1jz]

My store local Borders didn’t enforce the loitering rule and they did very well. We were shocked when they went out of business.

[@c.7610]

I remember just before the closings started sitting in my local Borders cafe with a magazine. A young employee came up and rather meekly (it was obvious she was uncomfortable doing this) asked if I was going to buy the magazine. I admitted that I wasn’t, and she said if I didn’t buy it I would have to put it down and leave the cafe. I said okay and left. It was all pleasant enough, but I do remember thinking that things were changing at Borders. I couldn’t blame them (and certainly not the employee who was just doing her job), but they changed the atmosphere and made shopping there a less welcoming experience. I spent thousands of dollars at Borders over the years but for me this marked the beginning of the end, as indeed it turned out to be.

[@oooh19]

That’s despicable that they can mess with employees’ schedules and claim they didn’t call out but they were off why call out? Also going to a funeral they actually would pay you bereavement time

[@MrRubmeister]

I came to know borders around 2006 2007 and I fell in love with the store instantly, so its downfall hurt much more than any other companies that have gone under.

[@tmech455]

I remember B.Dalton, Walden Books, and Crown Books

[@haydendegrow945]

The one thing that I like is that, here in Canada, our major chain of book stores, the Indigo Group, is like a combination of B&N and Borders. With the smart management of B&N and the atmosphere and charm of Borders, the stores are great. Notice that I said it was ONE CHAIN. With online sellers and e-books rising, pretty much anything that WASN'T an Indigo store went under, including several beloved local stores. In my hometown of Regina, Saskatchewan especially, we recently lost a 75-year-old local book store because of various reasons. It's sad really. They missed the physical book surge of the pandemic by just one year!

[@pitiedvod]

“Could it be horrible management.” It always does 😢

[@XeonProductions]

I still buy physical DVDs and blu-rays. I got sick and tired of the streaming services removing content, or the streaming service itself going defunct and losing all of the content I "owned".

[@DiamondKingStudios]

It’s taken me a while to start thinking about libraries as multimedia information centers (I always associated them with just books), but the more I think about it the more I like for one to have a wide selection of DVDs. If you can’t rent one from Blockbuster, you may as well lend one for a little while from the library.

[@beckc101ify]

I remember going to both Boeders and Waldenbooks back in the day to get my fix of Manga. Those were good times. I miss them! 😢

[@wryterzblock]

I could always count on walking into Borders to buy a full or up to date run of whatever manga I was looking for without ever having to wait. I miss it. :(

[@trashcatlinol]

Good times!

[@dovesr0478]

Yes dude, one of my aunts that would directly finance my manga addiction by buying me Borders gift cards for every birthday and Christmas. Hanging around and picking up all the random shit just to see what it was about was great.

[@Mezcon2]

I remember Waldenbooks well, as my grandparents would take me shopping there while at the mall to get a new book. Was kind of like a tradition.

[@magicalmysteryperson]

Remember kids: had Borders not outsourced their online store, Amazon wouldn't be the juggernaut it was today!

[@grahamcann1761]

I worked there for many years, and it would have been my fifth liquidation, if I hadn't left a month before the end was announced. I'd been through (at least five) previous liquidations, when I was literally the last one out the door. And after my last liquidation I promised myself never again! (The same promise I'd made four times previously, but I stayed to protect the last employees.) But this time I saw the writing on the wall, and I wasn't the top manager, so I left. Why do stores, in general, (I think,) keep failing. Greed. Most of my staff, and leaders, ended up going to local B&N's. One day I visited a B&N and saw my old district manager. He told me the only complaint he'd ever had about me, was that I didn't move over to B&N. "Do you think I made a mistake?" "No." I'm still friends with many of my old associates, and we agree. Retail is a crap shoot. Thank you so very much for the video.

[@NewGuy2534]

I remember fondly going into a Borders near me because they sold Anime and Manga that you couldn't get from Barnes and Noble or FYE (remember them?). So I was able to get Cowboy Bebop, Bacanno, and Berserk for a relatively cheap cost.

[@petechau9616]

I was a regular customer of the Borders here in Pasadena, Ca. and saw the fall and a front row sat to its decline and demise. The discounts at the end were nice but at the same time sad because you knew it would soon die.

[@williampaz2092]

How I wish Borders managed to save itself! I loved this store.

[@jamesstricklerii5384]

This is really sad because I do remember going to my Borders and always enjoyed them. I go to Barnes and Noble now, but don't enjoy it anywhere near as much.

[@lhart99]

I'm just blown away at the rapid decay of so many big box store brands. The last 25 years has been wild. The perfect storm of incompetent CEOs and board members and the rise of online purchasing, mainly Amazon.

[@michaelosgood9876]

Borders had an amazing store in Christchurch, NZ, where approximately half my library was purchased. Best bookshop we ever had...

[@earlofnacho]

Aside from owning it, I find the process of browsing, selecting, and popping in a physical copy of something to be rewarding in a very similar way to the choosing and reading of books. I collect music cassettes and VHS tapes, with modest DVD and CD collections, and I find the whole thing to be a lot more satisfactory than hitting shuffle on the same playlist I’ve heard a million times or scrolling for 30 minutes to pick a movie I’m never gonna finish. Granted, I also have 11 tb of movies and shows that I stream for friends and family, but I do usually buy physical copies of anything that really gives me joy, and I often find myself opting for the ol’ analog selection process. There’s just something about it. Also, when you buy physical you can support who you want whose art speaks to you or whose ideas inspire you. When you pay a subscription, you support mostly just a cold, faceless corporation which is in the game to make profit, not art. Don’t get me wrong, art can happen. But now with this whole writer’s thing, I think it’s clear what’s really important… That took a turn! What I mean to say is: physical good. Feel good too.

[@eloquentsarcasm]

Spent a good chunk of my 20's and 30's hanging out in bookstores, loved finding new works from favorite authors or something totally unknown to me. Cup of coffee, good book, and an afternoon free to do nothing made for some truly good days.

[@scottpeltier3977]

I love how your vids feel like your reacting to the fall in real time and your just as confused and shocked as the rest of us.

[@melasnexperience]

God, I miss Borders. It was my favorite place to go on a day off in high school, it was where I went to de-stress during college, and I always just preferred it to Barnes & Noble. If I ever run into the dinguses (dingi?) that mismanaged it, they're getting a firm knee to the groin. Last time I went to a Barnes & Noble, I felt more like I was going to a gift/hobby/toy store with a smattering of books, and I can't imagine ever going there to just find something new like I used to with Borders.

[@winnie2379]

I took my older son & his friend to meet Gary Paulson at a Borders meet the author event. My younger son later saw Jim Davis with a human-sized Garfield mascot there. I’m grateful for the memories that Borders provided my sons.

[@SlackActionBumble]

For a while I forgot what channel I was on, and I was like dang, Company Man is feisty today

[@annehays7799]

I was so lucky growing up as a kid. I still live 5 minutes away from a Barnes and noble, but there was a borders literally right across the street too at the mall. Plus there’s a huge public library a few minutes down the road from that. I never lacked reading material as a kid, and I ended up majoring in English later in life.

[@ceceb6264]

When I purchased a kindle back in 2007, I was told you are saving trees. Now if I read a kindle in public, I’m told it’s my fault all bookstores went bankrupt. 😮

[@umbraemilitos]

Borders was once the best bookstore. Beautiful layouts, music, stocked shelves, events, and more. No other bookstore had that much style and community.

[@SewardWriter]

I loved that store so much. Once, I was invited to apply, so I did. I put a note on my application that I couldn't work in the cafe due to food allergies. They asked me to interview for the cafe. I lost my temper a bit.

[@jergervasi3331]

I miss Borders. Great shopping experience. Incredible depth of stock, they carried a far deeper variety of books on any topic than anyone else. I remember thinking that couldn’t be easy to manage financially.

[@Rvictorbravo]

I remember when Borders started online sales, my wife bought a book. It came with a Borders mug, a chocolate sampler, and some coffee. Also a hand-written thank you. So we tried again and got the same in the next order. It was very nice, but we both thought they were going to crash because they had so much time on their hands.

[@gentlemanjared]

My sister worked at one for several years, and I recall her coming back from some manager conference one year and telling us all "I give them two years, I am looking for a different job tomorrow". This was in 2008 or 2009."

[@ryangossett8211]

Yep, I saw the writing on the wall and left Borders in Oct of 2008.

[@pskarnaq73]

I could smell the book store while watching this! ❤

[@Listersmate2]

Back in the day, I used to spend my Friday & Saturday nights at Boarders bookstore. I would go & just hang out looking at the books & cds. I even managed meeting quite a few people in Boarders & got involved in playing Chess because people would come to play Chess in the coffeeshop there. Those were great times in my life!!!!

[@DoTheHuman]

Wow Friday AND Saturday. You animal😊

[@blackphoenix77]

I'm still not over Borders closing.

[@Tacochamp123]

I worked there for a few years. I was there when they fired every manager and lowered wages. I remember the exact moment the faces on all the managers went from excited to angry.

[@Bored_Barbarian]

9:08 literally yes. Between streaming shenanigans with stuff coming and going, and digital stores shutting down like Funimation, it definitely matters.

[@ShinmegamiPersona]

Used to work across the street from a Borders and Walgreens. Took my breaks in Borders. Missed it.

[@rednebula2233]

Great episode, it took me back when I was in college and would to Borders with 20% email print out. It was such a good store.

[@robfarleyli]

While working at Borders, on a break, i was flipping through a business journal and said out loud “Oh look, Borders is having financial troubles !” as i put the magazine back on the rack.

[@therevanchist1123]

I had no idea Borders made the Kobo, I love my Kobo Clara Color, and I can say one thing, reading e books from a regular tablet is a terrible experience, and there has been a resurgence in physical book sales but I myself prefer going to the mom and pop stores then B&N, they are too busy usually, I don’t believe we had a boarders where I’m at but we did have a Walden’s in most of the malls, I miss them.

[@zeenohaquo7970]

Sadly missed: Borders, Tower records, Virgin megastores.

[@ricosauve5]

I used to love browsing in there. I’ve said for years a lot of these corporations problems is they don’t go and say what’s the market going be like 10 years from now….20 years from now. They just go what’s gonna make us money today. I feel the same with this country and malls. We built way too many malls and never said, hey, what’s people’s shopping gonna be like in 10 to 15 years. A lot of big box stores are closing. And the mall ends up dying with it

[@Chad_Thundercock]

Of course I prefer holding a DVD in my hand - no one can decide to change it, or that my purchase has "expired", and I can export it to any other form i choose. Streaming is a tool pushed by the enemy to swindle and control you.

[@coletrickle-km7cl]

DVR= they can decide what you can record. VCR=yeah you just TRY to control what I record.

[@jimc.goodfellas]

"you will own nothing...."

[@ostsan8598]

Is the enemy in the room with us?

[@DiamondKingStudios]

I always thought it strange that my uncle had a room in his house where DVDs lined shelves going the entire height of the wall on two sides. Makes more and more sense as time passes.

[@Chad_Thundercock]

@@ostsan8598 The enemy is any person, group, or association that would intentionally detriment your well-being or desires, or restrict your freedoms, solely to their own gain. Here, the enemy would seek to revoke your purchase, or rewrite history by modification of records (your media). Edit - and yes, the enemy can be anywhere.

[@milkshake1993]

Viewer #243, great content, found you last week and have been enjoying the vids, they answer my questions about why some companies disappeared

[@normangarza6624]

They had a great selection of coffee table books. My last book that I got was 500 Rock Bands that I got just days before the Long Beach, CA location closed and later became a doctor's office.

[@thomasrobinson182]

Borders became a library, where students would take books into the snack and coffee area, taking tables away from paying customers and rendering many books unsellable. Good business plan.

[@Interestingenough4]

So in other words, Borders made more or less the same mistakes as Blockbuster: they were too late to the digital and Internet game.

[@alexron42]

My favorite Borders word idea was they tried making in store book printing a thing. In theory you could order a book in their system and they would print and bind it on the spot. I don't think it was ever totally working

[@DiamondKingStudios]

If it was refined, I could see it really taking off. Frankly, I’d use it.

[@TheMimic12]

Frankly if it ever worked I think that's a really REALLY good idea. You could in theory have a sort of "best of both worlds" arrangement where you get this massive library of online books, but you could go to your local Borders and have it immediately in your hands, with all the benefits of a physical book.

[@neophytealpha]

Remember Waldenbooks, Borders, Dalton Booksellers, and several others.

[@amuroray1085]

I liked Borders, it was a cool place.

[@Not_Always]

I am one of those weirdos who can't read ebooks and need to hold the physical book in my hands.

[@ryangossett8211]

You are not a weirdo.

[@christopherrolen2913]

Borders was my favorite bookstore.

[@marinelaortiz3202]

I always loved going into borders even after I graduated high school, I went through so much manga that I kept on going back even with coupons. I do have an Amazon Kindle since I can’t read physical books anymore, and glad that they accessible with the voice view screen reader.

[@willgriffin5647]

Holding a disc will ALWAYS be superior to just downloading content. You realize xbox or paramount can suddenly decide to delete their games or movies, right? If you own the disc then you can keep playing your game or watching your movie until your disc dies. Physical media will NEVER get beaten by downloadable content.

[@ruiner101]

Borders was my goto place whenever I had to go buy musical equipment at Sam Ash in Cerritos CA. There was a Borders in the same plaza and I would hang out there, buy a refreshing drink, and buy a book or some cds. I spent a lot of time there up until my music situation got a lot busier and couldn't go as often. There was a local college there and Borders would have a student jazz band perform there from time to time. When you said the atmosphere was nice, that was an understatement to me. It was like a small town coffeeshop environment but big. I had a blast while it was there. RIP Borders.

[@willdunn3136]

I just saw the Miss Cleo one and then the Segway one and then I got to this one and your channel is making my Saturday, man! Good stuff!! 👌

[@NickTarterOKC]

Still crying.

[@evangaines2303]

I remember going to Borders when I was little. Now, it's gone. Will surely be missed.

[@autumnorfall]

Love this series! Would be interested to see one about TGI Fridays and fern bars.

[@WakkoKakko]

What I loved about Borders was that it offered a different variety of books than Barnes and Noble in non-fiction books. I bought my share of books from Borders that I could not find anywhere in Barnes and Noble. Damn shame that they are no longer around.

[@zeferinoresendiz1698]

PIXY:

[@robertberthaut5846]

These corporate bozos always leave with their pockets full.

[@BitsyGem]

I went to college near Ann Arbor and had a bunch of friends who worked at Borders (mostly stores but I did have a friend in corporate IT). Most of them seemed to enjoy their time working for them. I used to love killing time reading books and having beverages at the cafe.

[@JamesSavik]

I was shocked when our Borders closed. It was always packed.

[@SnuubScadoob]

Man I miss Borders… they were great stores! They would actually just let you sit there and read a book. And let me tell you, even if I finished that book, if it was one I enjoyed, I would always buy it!

[@snowps1]

I spent so many hours of my youth in those old bookstores. They were destinations for booklovers. You would just go and hang out for hours.

[@alexleblond5041]

I remember them. I used to go to him a lot and I found a funniest. The things you didn't mention is that we had in our orders in West. Leviton, they actually had a competition where you could write down share ideas, and what would help them? To become better and they had a competition on that and they had. Lot of it was very different. They closed in 2011. There were only one last ones to close. As soon as they were closed, see, they just locked it up. Don't get rid of any of the books. The books were locked inside. No one bought from there, but then a few days later, the sign was torn off the mall. And a new bookstore? One of the Competitions took over that bought. The personal paperwork took over and opened it with all the original same books in less than a week. All the original books were sold, but I find funny. Now when you go into that bookstore, you don't find so much books but you find toys you're so fine. Other personal things are not books. Makes me wonder they're getting ready too. Because they have sales constantly unbooks, records c. Ds, ipods and all that type of stuff they always have constantly sales. And I'm wondering how much longer before bookstores kid no, hang on. As I heard from someone that worked there that they might be cutting, the personal physical stores and do only online sales

[@Aussiemarco]

Borders opened a wonderful, gigantic store in the Macquarie Centre in northern Sydney around 2000-ish. It was Heaven!! Beautiful ambience, amazing selection of books and a huge discount section. I moved to the UK in 2006 and was happy to see another huge Borders in Central London. It was gone a few years later.

[@Gen-yh1jz]

The Borders in my city was doing very well always crowded. Sales were great. Nobody could figure out why they went out of business.

[@jerryrichardson2799]

I complained to people at Borders about the selection several times over a year or two, people's response was that they had exactly the 🎉kind of books that were popular according to their buyer's, of course, said buyer's were on the take from publisher's.

[@RadioLaPrincess]

I worked at Borders from 2000-2001 and could see the demise. For example, I worked Christmas 2000 and while it was busy, people who worked there for years told me it was nowhere near how it was. Also, after the Christmas season they reduce everyone, to the point where the full time employees (including managers) were reduced to part time. I went from 40 hours (sometimes more) to around 12 hours. When they wanted to cut me to 4 hours a week I said nope. I was a customer before I worked there and afterwards and liked it better than Barnes. I go to Barnes now but liked Borders better.

[@JJ-qs9hu]

I worked at borders in west Hollywood in 2006 to 2007 and transferred to my hometown in AZ until Oct 2008. I watched them slowly fading.

[@EtienneSalvant]

Just grabbed your book on audible. Gonna check it out. I’m writing my first dark fantasy too! From one writer to another keep it up!

[@1867Phoenix]

When Borders went out of business I was visiting my grandma in Evansville, Indiana I bought nine Rurouni Kenshin mangas for the price of just one manga.

[@TimOGhoul]

Kobos are the only eReaders I’ve ever bought. They’re the biggest company outside of the US, and they don’t use a proprietary ebook format like the Kindles do.

[@mastershake4145]

Ahh yes apple and Amazon two totally respectable companies who never did anything wrong. The 2000s were a depressing time that were an indication of things to come.

[@rager-69]

If they were going to use Amazon, it should have been a re-labelled experience where you didn't know it was Amazon. I remember Target used to use Amazon back then, too.

[@geebs76]

I loved Borders but once Amazon got rolling their selection was so much better that I stopped going to physical bookstores.

[@Sailormac2]

Oh, man, this closing HURT because I freaking loved these stores. Besides the cozy atmosphere, they always were looking for off the beaten track things that would succeed - they had a big manga section long before any other bookseller took notice of the growing trend, and their sci-fi and fantasy sections were extensive. Plus their Harry Potter releases were EVENTS even if you didn’t pick up your book until the morning after. (I actually think the end of the Potter series and the mainstreaming of anime/manga culture were minor contributing factors to their demise).

[@jnsnj1]

Borders was the only big box store that I can say I loved. The scifi and fantasy section was the best.

[@NOTLeavingLV]

They literally opened a new Barnes and noble in an upscale shopping center here in Vegas called town square just recently.

[@alexfogg381]

I remember one in Bangor Maine, I went there many times, later when the chain went under , books a million took over the location, I'm not sure if the building is still going, last I heard they were still going to be in business, but they were searching for a smaller location overhead cost I guess the thing I always remember about the store was the Elevator with the glass wall you could get a panoramic view of the story going up to the second floor.

[@trevorwhatever2050]

Ill always remember going to the Borders in downtown Nashville like 15 or 20 years ago. Loved that place, good memories.

[@markwebb1040]

I spent many hours and many dollars at the Borders in Springdale, OH back in the day. They had a great horror section and stocked a few horror magazines you can only purchase online these days. The last issue of Cemetery Dance I bought off a magazine rack was at that Borders. Wonderful selection and atmosphere that I've never really encountered anywhere else.

[@thistle76]

This was so sad for me...i went to the death to 4 or 5 area closings and was one of the last customers... got some great sales and even a small bookcase too but now just memories... i miss them very much! My mother and i enjoyed it so much!

[@shaunbrierley5864]

There used to be a Borders book store in my home town in the UK. I still miss it.

[@Randoplants]

Ok wow I am blown away by the good at business thinking in this one

[@mjemigh3304]

I really enjoyed going to one particular Borders. The place was always busy and when they brought in a guest, it was packed. Upstairs they hosted writers, speakers, and most importantly, musicians. Some were locals selling their self-produced CDS, but nationally known acts (mostly folk music) were featured often. Thinking back, I didn't really spend a whole lot of money there. My guess is that many others didn't, as well. Still, it was a great place to hang out. Maybe if they had an admission charge.......

[@KatAdVictoriam]

I just realized how many doomed companies I've worked for. I grew up in Michigan so these were common retail jobs. Kmart, Borders and Blockbuster. I miss Borders and Blockbuster so much though.

[@ryangossett8211]

My doomed companies were Musicland (AKA Sam Goody), Waldenbooks and Borders (granted they had common ownership)

[@KatAdVictoriam]

@@ryangossett8211 I remember Sam Goody and Walden books. :) Walden was where I began collecting books first.

[@nature_exploring]

I loved Borders. I'd revisit in a heartbeat if they didn't shut down.