Borders Forced to Close All Its Stores

[Carol]

After working on the stupid things all day. I don't even want to touch an electric toothbrush.
Not to mention all the chargers for stuff all over the house as it is.. somtimes looks like abunch of jungle vines juast waiting to trip you up.

I hear ya about the jungle vines The screen on the kindle doesn't feel (to your eyes) like a device. The screen is made out of ink and its not backlit. When I looked at my friends, the experience was rather...surreal.

Well, taking the plunge and ordering one. First download is going to be The Gift Of Fear. I borrowed someone else's book to read it, now I want a copy of my own

 

[granfire]

hah, saw demo models of the kindle and nook reader at Walmart today....
I think you gotta ask somebody to unlock the case though....

 

[MaxiMe]

I hear ya about the jungle vines The screen on the kindle doesn't feel (to your eyes) like a device. The screen is made out of ink and its not backlit. When I looked at my friends, the experience was rather...surreal.

Well, taking the plunge and ordering one. First download is going to be The Gift Of Fear. I borrowed someone else's book to read it, now I want a copy of my own

Thanks for the info on the screen. The folks I know who have them wont let me near it. I guess they are affraid I'll take it apart to see what makes it tick. (my sister knows me well :uhyeah: .

 

[granfire]

Thanks for the info on the screen. The folks I know who have them wont let me near it. I guess they are affraid I'll take it apart to see what makes it tick. (my sister knows me well :uhyeah: .

:lfao:
note to self: keep Maxi away from sensitive appliances...

 

[KELLYG]

Now I am old school. I do not even have a computer at home or a lap top. I purchased a Nook not to long ago and I love it. The Nook that I have has a 3g network so you do not have to have a computer or wireless stuff. I like the simple fact that if it is late in the evening and you finish a book you can get another almost immediately. You also don't have to find a home for the book that you finished. One of the great features for me is the ability to change the fonts to accomodate old eyes.

 

[MaxiMe]

:lfao:
note to self: keep Maxi away from sensitive appliances...

You are wise beond your years .
I usually don't buy computers I build them to suit the need.
But the 5 year old desktop the kiddo uses is at end of life, and I don't have the energy to build another one. So it's gonna be off the shelf from now on.

 

[jks9199]

Thanks for the info on the screen. The folks I know who have them wont let me near it. I guess they are affraid I'll take it apart to see what makes it tick. (my sister knows me well :uhyeah: .

My wife got a Nook for Christmas. She'd shopped around and compared and decided that was the one she liked best. The screen really does look much much more like a regular page than some sort of computer screen, until it scrolls, of course. Note that the color versions are just LCD screens or the like. They're really more like underpowered tablet PCs.

 

[billc]

The Borders stores from the perspective of a writer who dealt with them through book signings, Larry Correia, author of Monster Hunter International books...

http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/on-borders-closing/

From his site:

All of the business editorials I’ve seen are making it out that they were killed by the eBook revolution. Maybe that was a big loss on one revenue stream, but having visited fifty+ Borders over the last couple of years, and having been a businessman/salesman/entrepreneur myself, I can say they were sucking wind in their regular stores too.

Event at Borders? I’d have a fifty-fifty chance of having management give a damn. Maybe fifty-fifty on the employees, who were usually just listlessly serving time. And only Borders (and one particular Indy store that shall remain nameless) have actually scheduled me to have a book signing, and then forgotten to order any extra books. This has happened to me twice at two separate Borders.

My reception at Borders usually ranged between negative to blah… It got to the point that if I had to choose between stopping at an Indy, a B&N, or a Borders, I would hit the Indy first, then the B&N, then the other B&N, then every other B&N within 20 miles, and then maybe the Borders… Unless I was hungry, tired, bored, or maybe just wanted to go back to the hotel in case there was something more important to do, like watch reruns of Walker Texas Ranger.
Here is how a drive by would go at an average B&N the week one of my books comes out. Introduce myself to the person at the service counter. Usually they’d grab a manager. Then I’d sign the 5-12 copies of my books that they have. I’d usually end up having a conversation. About half the time, one or more of the staff members would purchase one of my books. (normally I would try to find out who their biggest contemporary fantasy fan was, or just cheat and find out who their Jim Butcher fan was). If I already had fans on staff, I’d make sure they got an MHI patch.
Here is how the average Border’s drive by on release week would go. Stand forever at the customer service counter… Get one employee who goes, er, huh? You want to what? You write books? Oh… Okay… Whatever. Then I would go and sign my 0-2 copies. (right next to the forty thousand copies of various True Blood tie-ins) Nobody would care. Then I would ask myself why I bothered stopping at Borders and drive to the next B&N.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Gonna go put on my vulture costume and go see about doing some bone picking tonight.

 

[granfire]

Gonna go put on my vulture costume and go see about doing some bone picking tonight.

ah.. the visual...

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Lot was full. First time in a few years I saw it full.

 

[jks9199]

What I liked about the Borders nearest me vs. Barnes and Noble:
*Better selection & easier to find area on woodworking/crafting
*Slightly more varied selection in Science Fiction/Fantasy (in other words, at least a few lesser known authors along with the big series names)
*Better martial arts section
*Their member program was free
*Self-help computer kiosk available to customers rather than needing to find a salesperson

What I didn't like:
*Pain in the *** location, unless I was trying to kill time before or after a movie
*Prices often were slightly higher, or less chance of finding a restriction
*Staff often couldn't be bothered to look at customers, let alone actually help them

To me -- what I see here is simply the effect of the impact that the big box bookstores had on independent and small chain bookstores ricocheting back at them. (Anyone else miss Crown Books? Discount, primarily paperback, largish chain that was lost in the Dart family feud.)

And a final note on e-readers: I just suggested my wife may actually like a book (for those curious, The First Eagle by Tony Hillerman). Her response, "Too on-paper."

 

[Carol]

Thanks for the info on the screen. The folks I know who have them wont let me near it. I guess they are affraid I'll take it apart to see what makes it tick. (my sister knows me well :uhyeah: .

I did that to my grandparents radio. They've been gone 25 years and I still hear about it... :lol2:

 

[Buka]

I love book stores, I always have. I've spent hours in them and I hate to see them go. But I'm partially responsible. Been using Amazon since it first went on line. Been buying their used books for several years now. Can't even remember when I bought a new one from them. All this has taken sales from book stores. And now Kindles and the like.
I work in a physical therapy unit. Most of the patients bring books in with them, so we talk books. But over the last year at least half of them have electronic books. A lot of them swore they would NEVER get one. But then someone gave them one as a gift, or loaned them one, and they switched. Now, they almost seem like salesmen for the darn things.

I'll never go electronic with books. I like the feel of a book. I like to dog ear the pages and highlight in yellow. But if I succumb, I'll probably talk like a salesman jerk, too.

 

[billc]

They are great. I have a kindle and it is amazing to walk around with close to a hundred books in a tiny device. The only problem is that it makes it even easier to read, and not completely finish several books at once.