[78-L] Bye Bye, Borders

[David Lennick]

I certainly don't want to see books go away, primarily because I don't have the 
slightest interest in 99% of the stuff that's offered electronically. I don't 
read fiction, period, except for Mordecai Richler and one or two other authors 
(and at that, only every couple of years..and Mordecai isn't turning them out 
any more). I refuse to surrender my daily newspaper as well.

dl

On 2/17/2011 6:00 PM, Bill McClung wrote:
> I think books will be printed at least for a couple or three generations.
>
> I'm self-employed as an independent publisher's representative.  I've worked
> in trade (non-textbook) book sales for thirty-seven years.  I've managed
> Waldenbooks stores and  independent stores, been a house rep and a
> commission rep, worked in sales management at Random House, Warner Books,
> and Texas Monthly Press.
>
> Watch for a growth in print-on-demand books as book espresso machines become
> more common--maybe in the next year or so at your local Kinko's.  Walk in
> the door and order a printed book and it will appear.
>
> Watch for all bookstores to carry fewer titles and cultivate fewer sections
> as they continue to specialize and make rooom for other types of products.
> The day of the big, big bookstore with all subjects covered is what is going
> away.
>
> Watch for the successful stores to be more curatorial so that customers want
> to come to browse to find books they didn't know they wanted or didn't know
> existed.  The illustrated book will long outlive the all-text book and have
> more value.
>
> For the past few years my buyers have been worrying about ebooks and Amazon
> and the Big Box stores and Sam's/Cosco and margins and the economy but this
> Spring most of them have calmed down as they have realized that they can
> survive if they continue to connect with their communities and offer value
> to their customers.  They are using social media and hosting inventive
> events and celebrating their strenghs.  The good independent stores should
> be around for the long term.
>
> Amazon is the villian of this piece. Amazon sells books below cost and
> refuses to play on a level playing field with bookstores by fighting the
> paying of sales taxes.  I'm not advocating an Amazon boycott.  I'm just
> saying Amazon is not the bookstore's friend.  And in many ways the
> bookstores have brought things on themselves by not being more of what their
> customers have been wanting.
>
> We now just have more ways of consuming words.  Printed books will be part
> of that mix.   Anybody listen to a radio lately or gone to a movie?  I heard
> that was killed off by television.
>
> On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 10:23 AM, Malcolm Rockwell<malcolm at 78data.com>wrote:
>
>> Turns out Borders is only closing two stores here in Hawaii; one on the
>> Big Island and the other on Kauai. The stores on Maui and Oahu will
>> remain. Borders is a mainstay of book lovers on Maui, however I still go
>> to Amazon if they don't have what I'm looking for. Our Maui store is
>> very well stocked and the nearest thing to a coffee-house we have. Poty,
>> we could use a good coffee-house (and, no, Starbucks does NOT count!)
>> Mal
>>
>> *******
>>
>> On 2/17/2011 5:21 AM, Cary Ginell wrote:
>>> Before our Borders closed, I was getting 30% and 40% coupons E-mailed to
>> me regularly. Problem is that their stock was never as good as Barnes&
>>   Noble's. Never got discounts from B&N.
>>>
>>> At least I got away with buying one of the floor CD cabinets before they
>> closed. It's in my record room now, stocked with jazz CDs.
>>>
>>> Cary Ginell
>>>
>>>> Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2011 09:44:00 -0500
>>>> From: dlennick at sympatico.ca
>>>> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
>>>> Subject: Re: [78-L] Bye Bye, Borders
>>>>
>>>> But Barnes&   Noble at least has offered discount cards and online
>> coupons. I
>>>> signed up for a Borders card and found it gave me absolutely nothing.
>>>>
>>>> The Barnes&   Noble outlet in Rochester has one of the best second-hand
>>>> selections I've seen outside of a thrift store. And yes, I still do far
>> better
>>>> looking online..many's the time I've walked into B&N with a 15% off
>> coupon and
>>>> not found anything to use it on.
>>>>
>>>> dl
>>>>
>>>
>>