Borders Liquidation
 

News Alert
from The Wall Street Journal


Borders Group said it would liquidate after failing to receive any offers to save the bookstore chain.

Borders, which employs about 10,700 people, scrapped a bankruptcy-court auction scheduled for Tuesday amid the dearth of bids. The U.S.'s second-largest bookstore chain said it would ask a judge Thursday to approve a sale to liquidators led by Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers Group.

Borders's liquidation of its remaining 399 stores could start as soon as Friday and the bookstore chain is expected to go out of business for good by the end of September, the company said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...=djemalertNEWS

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

probably wont see any good deals until movies hit 50 or 60 off

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Not shocking. Retailers like this who refuse to adapt to consumers shopping habits, such as shopping online, price comparing and whatnot, are going to fail in today's economy. Their "sales" were poor at best, and usually said item you wanted was a better price elsewhere, and not on sale. Personally I hadn't shopped at Borders, or even been in one since i've been married. Almost 8 years.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

That 50% online coupon was certainly good for a few orders back in May -- but otherwise I'm neither a patron of their store or their online site. Another retailer that simply couldn't make the transition.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Borders gift cards will be valid throughout the sale. Per an article in USA Today



It is always sad when a major retailer closes especially one where you could spend time to browse. Hopefully there won't be too much store bashing in this thread about how they deserved it because they were too expensive etc. I got a good deal on the blu -ray of Lord of the Rings trilogy using a coupon and the last of my gift cards. Several years ago Discover Card had a deal where instead of getting cash back you could take your rebate in Border's Gift Cards. The face value of the gift card was double your cash rebate. At the time Border's website was a portion the Amazon website with the Borders logo on it. Any book or DVD that Amazon sold you could buy through the Border's website using the gift card at Amazon prices. It was a great deal.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

My comments were about as bashing as I could do. Again, I hate any business that has to layoff so many workers, but if it's one thing that drove the company out of business, is that they were too expensive.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

On the last liq, I didn't buy anything until 70%, & didn't buy heavily until 90%.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Sorry, They deserved it. They were too expensive (sometimes above MSRP) and poorly run with some of the worst staff I have ever encountered in retail. Once they get down to 60% they might be competitive.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Amazon can sell for less because they operate without retail locations and with much fewer employees. I am sure if people were more willing to purchase clothing on line without first seeing and trying on the clothing that stores such as Macys would fail because they couldn't compete on price. The items that Borders sold are the same everywhere. You could see something at Borders and then buy the item on line for less. It is the same thing that happened to Tower Records and will probably happen to Barnes and Noble. Basically no retail operation can compete with an internet company on price because of the cost of operations for a retailer are much greater. Also most people don't pay sales tax on internet purchases.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I find it pathetic when people believe their experiences with a portion of a company apply to an entire organization and are also the same experiences as everyone's. I had nothing but positive experiences with every Borders I visted in dozens of cities around the country. Yes, their prices were high but there were good deals available online with coupons. I guarantee I got better deals at Borders.com then I could get anywhere else.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Im glad you find it pathetic but I have dealt with about 30 stores and each store was about the same, rude employees, many refused to take their own coupons and often times they wouldnt even honor their own return policies and required me to contact their corporate offices more than once. Again I say good riddance to a company that shouldn't have survived this long.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

2 comments:

1. On cd's & dvd's shipping is often more than sales tax.

2. Back in the day (late 90's/early 00's) your statement "because they operate without retail locations and with much fewer employees." was accurate. Today the net has become so corporate that there is little if any cost saving over running a B&M. The corps have gotten their sticky little fingers into pretty much every piece of the pie.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I don't. You're only as good as your weakest link. If you got one asshole employee then you're going to lose good customers.
I loved Borders. I will miss them but they've been long gone in my mind. I used to go there at least once a week if not more. I loved browsing and buying stuff there. They were pricey on stuff but they had a better selection and made it worth my while. When they started to make some of their departments smaller, most notably the CDs, I stopped going.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Sad day. For those of you who ever visited Borders in Ann Arbor in the early 80's this is a sad end to an amazing store. The stores today don't have the look or the feel as that one did, but poor management decisions and a failure to adapt to the changing marketplace will do this to you. There is a reason small book stores should stay independent, and this is it.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

That's a better theory than practice when applied to large companies. There's not a large company, retail or other, in the world that is free of bad employees. Hiring is not an exact science. If we as consumers were to stop purchasing from any company that's treated someone poorly then we'd have nothing and the world economy would collapse. The bottom line here is a lot of good people will be out of jobs in a poor economy and no one should be pleased with that.

Now, bring on the bargains.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

1. I have never paid for shipping at Amazon and rarely any place on line. Between coupons, trial offers for prime , and spending over $25 at Amazon per order, I always get free shipping.

2. I am not sure about your second point as I just don't know, but it would surprise me if it were true. What is your source of information?

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

1. I can't always afford the $25 minimum

2. I haven't been open about this here, because there has been some small retailer bashing on this board in the past ("Big Lots hoarders", etc), & I am also very much a collector of both film & music; but I am a small online retailer, & have been so since 1998. I have also both owned & managed B&M stores in the past (80's); so my source is personal experience.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

For every asshole employee, there are 10+ insanely difficult/asshole customers.

Shame to see Borders go under but it was inevitable due to technology. I hate that nearly everything seems to be e-tailor based these days though.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

This to the maximum utmost. I worked in retail for almost 20 years, and what finally drove me out was the absolute insistence that customers were worth retaining in spite of the problems they brought in, or became. They are not and have never been.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

There are those who say the customer is always right, and then there are those who have worked in retail.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I spent 10+ years working in retail and I do believe that most of the time the customer is right. I ran into very few difficult customers, I think this may be related to clientele and my time in retail was over 10 years ago.

As to Borders, and potentially other like companies in the near future, they are becoming irrelevant. Most consumers are moving to streaming/downloading digital media and of those left buying physical media they simply don't need to touch and see a CD/DVD/Book before they have a desire to purchase it. With the growth of MP3, streaming movies and e-readers, retailers like Borders (who have not attempted to change with the market) serve no purpose.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Will this be like the closure of Hollywood Video and Blockbuster stores where the sale lasts for two weeks and everyone waits until the final three days...hehe...

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

It's not a theory.

Unfortunately, that's a part of the job. Not saying it's right for people to be jerks.

And...I loved Borders. Great store. Sorry to see it go.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Then it's a good thing you're out of retail if you don't think customers are a vital part of the equation.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

+1 to all points made

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I don't think that's what Calamari was saying. The point is that troublemaking & abusive customers shouldn't be worth retaining. Is someone who complains about "negro cashiers" a vital part of the equation?

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

That's not what he's saying and you know it. Not all customers are worth courting or retaining. The customers you want are the ones that come in and buy HDTVs at full retail without blinking. The ones you don't are the ones that try to stack 6 coupons on a $10 DVD. It's not rocket science. Some customers bring in acceptable margins and some don't. You want to find the ones who do. Many of us who visit deal forums daily are not ideal customers for businesses no matter how much volume we move off their shelves. Because I know I'm not bringing in real profits when I shop for things like books and DVDs, I never expect fantastic service. When I want real customer service, I go to boutiques and pay full retail.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

If a store values a customer based solely on how much he or she spends at any given time in their store, then they're missing the big picture and probably won't stay in business very long. That customer who stacks 6 coupons on a $10 DVD will be a happy customer. A happy customer is much more likely to come back and spend more money at the same store. This is why stores still use coupons. To generate new and returning customers. You want to treat a customer as less or worse than others simply because they're spending less at a given time? What if they visit more often than those big spending customers? The store is potentially making a lot more money off of bargain hunters who return to the same store every week to spend $20-$30 than on someone who only visits once a month and pays full retail for an item. And you think it's okay to treat those loyal customers with poor service? I hope you don't run your own shop.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I work at a news outlet and the AP just sent out a correction to their story.

So, if the liquidators aren't buying any assets, maybe Borders gift cards will still be able to get used. I don't know, but I figure it's at least worth noting.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I agree with you up to a point. I can see why employees get annoyed with the people who "stack 6 coupons on a $10 DVD" but that doesn't make it acceptable. A phrase a boss taught me years ago has stuck with me. She said "a customer is not always right. But they are still the customer". No matter what you think of someone you still need to treat them with care because a happy customer might share that positive experience with others. And an unhappy customer will always share that experience with others.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

It's an unfair double-standard...but also just the way it is

Needless to say, the internet is a godsend for the difficult/elitist consumer

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I am very sorry to see them go. I had been a Borders Rewards member since they started that program, and I upgraded to a Borders Rewards-plus membership for $20 a few months ago. With the coupon book and $10 in Borders Bucks it easily paid for itself.

The rewards coupons were sent to me twice a week. And you could usually find even more coupon codes at the various coupon websites.

So - typically - I would use a 30, 33, or even 40% off coupon, plus my Rewards additional 10% off, plus free shipping - on two or three DVDs or CDs nearly every week. The bottom line price was almost always the best I could get anywhere on the web. And I shop heavily on the web.

Yes, Amazon and Barnes & Noble often have super-special prices (e.g., the Criterion DVD sale) but for buying low volume or back catalog CD titles (mostly classical and soundtrack) I could not beat Borders.com. And if an item needed returning I could just take it to my local Borders store - much more convenient than Amazon or Buy.com returns.

Did I run into an occasional jerk employee? Yes. This can happen anywhere. Mostly they were very helpful, to the extent they could be. At checkout the clerks were taught to say, "Did you find everything you were looking for"? Sadly, that was rarely the case these past two years.

With the departure of so many stores - large and small (e.g., Olssons here in the DC area two years ago) it is virtually impossible to find 90+ percent of what I want at a brick and mortar store. I buy everything on line, and it is getting more and more difficult to find good prices, especially for the CDs I want. And I am an old dog - a dinosaur 60 years of age - so I have no interest in downloading, at least not until the quality matches the pressed DVDs and CDs.

So I guess I'll concentrate on watching and playing my collection and find the occasional ebay bargain, etc.

Yes - there was a lot that was good about the good old days. But you can't fight "progress."

The Borders brick and mortar stores began going downhill about two years ago. I reminded me of what happened with Tower Records. And the Borders.com website started going screwy last May, when I could no longer access my order history and other account details. Still, I bought a book with a 40% off coupon and my additional 10% discount just ten days ago, with no problems. Still, I have had several CDs on backorder for some time now, so it appears their fulfillment partner for CDs stopped fulfilling a few weeks ago. I wonder if I will soon get order cancellation notices, or if they will just go silent.

It will be interesting to see if someone buys the Borders.com website. There is still a Tower.com and a CircuitCity.com - but they just bought the names because their prices are not very good.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

While that may be true, how many people actually stop patronizing a store that treated one of their friends badly? I know I don't, unless that store treated me badly as well.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

As with most things, the reality is somewhere in the middle. I think most stores will put up with bargain-hunters to a certain extent. But someone who continually pushes the envelope and uses their own policies against them will probably not be a customer that will come in and buy that big screen TV.

My father won't shop at Best Buy because I had so many bad experiences with them in the past. Even as my experience has improved with Best Buy in the last 3 years and I have shared it with my father, he still is reluctant to consider them as an option.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

My local/closest Borders store (Albany, NY) closed down years ago. I'm not even sure if they even had a liquidation sale...

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

The question now is what about pre-orders? If paid with "bonus backs", it has already been applied and used when the order was placed. I presuming all those orders will not be honored and the "bonus backs" lost.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Good customers are indeed a vital part of retail...the difficult, entitled douchebag customers are not a vital part of retail and should be encouraged to commit mass suicide and/or refrain from procreation.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

They were just too pricey, not enough stock, unknowledgeable employees and that's what did them in, and their website was a trainwreck and their customer service had to be the worse, but not a bad as AOL is but you get what I mean. Hoping B&N can learn something from this so the same fate doesn't await them a year or so from now.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Good... bad... makes no difference if they are a "paying" customer.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

2 pages and I have yet to see a bargain in this thread,perhaps you should move your comments on the demise of borders to the store forum