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

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
 

Hate this. Not only do I have friends who work there, but I love my local store. Does anyone know yet about what happens to borders bucks? I have some that will not not active until next month, August.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

The one borders book store that was near be closed down some while go.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Always hate seeing anyone get laid off, but damn was this a lousy store. Only place I ever heard workers complain openly.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I'll miss them as I have fond memories of having out in a Borders near my apartment when I first moved to a city in which I knew no one. But, you can't build a successful business when your only reasonably priced items are the Bargain books and items discounted via the coupons.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Sad to see another large franchise go the way of the dodo bird. I always like how large the Borders stores are. You could spend an entire day there.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I didn't like Borders. Besides the cheap online anime pre-orders, it pretty much sucked. However, they were one of the few stores that made books widely available and, once they pass, it's going to be that much harder to get a good selection of B&M books. So that part sucks.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I'll miss it too.
Would spend a good few hours in there. Plus with the coupons it was easy enough to find some good deals.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

That was one of their problems. The place became a hobo hotel.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Borders had a really pleasant atmosphere to hang out and read books--which were bought thereafter and not just left to be shelved.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

^
This

Even further, you had lots of people just treating their local stores like their own library. Treating the store like their own home, but maybe a little worse. The company encouraged it too. When I was an Operations Manager at my local Borders last year, I pushed for a little less seating at our local store. More so because it encouraged lounging not buying. It also made things harder for employees to keep things clean and looking nice. A Barnes and Noble across the Richmond Bridge had very limited seating in their store (most of the seating being in the Cafe) and that kept a lot of people from camping out in sections of their store.

Then again this applies to a lot of book stores. I went to a local bookstore when I was in Santa Cruz, CA a couple days ago. There were people just lying on their stomachs in the middle of aisles reading to their hearts content. I know this is part of the allure of many bookstores, but it certainly didn't encourage me as a shopper to be stepping over people to see if I could find a book.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Best deterrant to reading in a store I ever saw was at a convenience store near where I used to work- by the magazine rack, there was a hand-written sign saying "This is not library so do not read magazeen here."

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I'm sad about this whole thing. I worked at Borders (even though I had to actually quit to attend my college graduation because my manager was an ass), and loved it. I'm going to miss this store - cause B&N blows.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Its a bummer for sure. I found some great stuff from their bargain book shelves. Never happy to see a store go under, especially one that employs so many people.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

About 6 years ago I worked at Borders for a month...then went back to Barnes & Noble.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Damn, I had a preorder for an item coming out July 26. Guess that won't be happening, unless maybe their warehouse already received it...

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

You started this topic in three different forums, mekeez? :hscratch:

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

He's just spreadin' the word.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I've never bought a Blu-Ray at Borders- it's the only place I've ever seen them marked at full price though ($39.99 for some titles.) Was in one of their stores a few weeks ago and saw a bunch of CDs priced at $18.99 too.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

It was a good store to kill some time and browse around. But to buy something? Never... the prices were terrible. Even with a 50% off coupon, you could still find it cheaper on Amazon.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

We need a few more of these threads. Someone start one in the movie and video game forums, stat!

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

i'm in the same boat as kenbenobi, one backorder and one preorder (both used borders bucks). i guess i can kiss those good-bye....

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

sooooo.......... is this just a love/hate borders thread? wheres the deal here?

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

They didn't screen movies, nor did they sell video games. If they did, they'd be in there.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Borders did sell games for some times. Mostly random $20 crap titles.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I am going to take a book a day into the poo chalet, for a last hurrah farewell dump / read, to remind myself why i don't buy in B&M stores anymore.

(Some filthy savage has probably already done it, and thinks "B&M" stands for bowel movement)

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Case in point:

<i>"I just constantly enjoy sitting down and reading, especially in bookstores because it's quiet and the whole aura of it is just really relaxing," said Katherine Carrasco of Rancho Cucamonga, who prefers paper-and-ink books to the
electronic variety.</i>
That's from "The Sun" (San Bernadino paper). I wonder how much of what she read she actually purchased.

Perhaps B&N (to avoid the same fate as Borders) should put books and magazines in those plastic containers (a la blu-ray cases at Target) to prevent patrons from reading them. Instead, direct them to kiosks to read snippets and excerpts from the book.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Going to miss Borders, I could always get a book there for cheaper than I could at B&N.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

my local B&N has a kids section with tables where they encourage people to bring their kids and read in the store

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Then why go to a book store if you can't touch the books? Certainly there are folks that abuse the sytem and buy a coffee and sit down with a pile of magazines and books but when I'm shopping for a book on a topic, I'd like to leaf through it first. Seeing a couple of sample pages don't cut it.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Exactly. Those were the only things I bought. Otherwise it was a browsing room to determine whether I wanted to buy it from Amazon or not.For Blu-rays, mostly; but pricey books benefited from the half-off. My g/f was able to buy the Making of the Empire Strikes Back book because it was half-off $85 at Borders ($45.05 w/tax) vs. $53.25 at Amazon.

The one near my g/f closed a few months back* and we used to stop in there to browse magazines after dinner or while waiting for photos to print at the CVS across the street. We miss it, but it wasn't like we were spending much money there.


* I was mayor of it on Foursquare and a couple months later, I get notified that some woman had ousted me. Who the hell is so empty that they repeatedly checked into a closed business until they were mayor. I flagged the place as closed. If I can't be mayor, the hell is she!

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I do agree with Pizza, you don't want to make things crazy, just deter camping. Usually having (too many) comfortable places to sit with lots of space around you to pile books around is the problem. Although some people have no shame, you get less people who want to be seen as the man/woman who is sitting in the middle of an aisle (no chair/table) with a stack of books next to them. You'd get a let less camping with those sort of customers having to stand and read their books (or no place to put them)

A Borders I went to in Santa Cruz, had their entire Graphic Novels/Manga section sealed in plastic sleeves. They must have had a lot of browsing in that section, so they went ahead and took care of it.

I'm actually alright with that because I've seen that section and it's very inviting to parents/kids alike. Adults rolling solo should know better :)

My issue (both when I worked as a Manager and now that I'm no longer in Retail) is with the customers (if you can call them that) who's sole purpose is to throw $2 for a cup of coffee at the store and then treat the store like their home. Plopping down in a chair somewhere (sometimes physically moving them to parts of the store they aren't meant for), grabbing 20+ books and camping out. Not even putting the books back where they belong because it's someone's job to do it anyway.

Comparing terrible Daily Sales Goals/Numbers with the amount of people in a said store, you start to realize you have a lot more camping than you do actual buying.

As I said before, I'm happy to see everyone cheering the downfall of yet another company/B&M. We'll see how competitive E-Tailers are when they are the only ones left.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

BTW I posted this so those who, like me, had something to return, or borders bucks, etc. could get in there and get squared away. Noticed a new 30% off coupon through Thursday as well.

http://www.bordersmedia.com/coup/201...id=SL_20110719

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I posted this so those who, like me, had something to return ($60), or borders bucks, etc. could get in there and get squared away. Some Borders stores are less accommodating and I thought it was entirely possible that things would shut down way too quickly so some people would be left high and dry. I did get my cash back, although it was obvious that they didn’t know about the decision yet. :P

Noticed a new 30% off coupon through Thursday as well.

http://www.bordersmedia.com/coup/201...id=SL_20110719

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

I posted this in one of the other Borders threads, but it might be more appropriate to mention it here. I work at a news outlet and the AP just sent out a correction to their story.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Those cheering will be the first ones in line to bitch and moan when things don't go their way.

Guaranteed.

It's entirely possible that Borders will allow coupons and/or gift cards to still be used. I was able to use a gift card during a store closing but liquidation might be different.

I just wouldn't throw a fit if they refuse. Though, I'm sure someone will..

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

When I check store inventory for an item online, it turns out that I don't have a store within a 100 miles of me, although we have two here. It's started...

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Just tried to check local inventory on a few items, both book and dvd. Apparently, I have no Borders within a 100 miles today, while yesterday I had two. I didn't try any coupons and have no gift cards.

Re: Borders Liquidation
 

Yeah, that online thing is screwed up. Anyway, I just used up my borders bucks today in the store. I believe I also saw a woman in line returning a book as well. So if you need to do any of those things do it now as Borders is still allowing GC/Borders Bucks and return of items.