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rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
I did a drive by yesterday and too many cars in the lot so I passed. No big deal as I don't ever seem to find any real deals at these going out of business sales.
 

gkarris

macrumors G3
Original poster
Dec 31, 2004
8,301
1,061
"No escape from Reality...”
Most of the panic-buyers were using gift cards.

Ha, ha - that's why I think the store by you was full...

Don't know about the ones here - the ones closing are a bit aways from where I live/work so it's not worth the gas and time...

The ones near where I work and live are staying open - for now... ;)

I think people are just going to go for the sales if they have a gift card to spend...
 

Lord Blackadder

macrumors P6
May 7, 2004
15,669
5,499
Sod off
I think people are just going to go for the sales if they have a gift card to spend...

If their closing sale is not going to get any better than the 20-40% off that they have now, it isn't really worth it. Like I said, I might pick up a couple of the magazines that are 40% off, but that's it.

But if they make the discounts 60-80%+ shortly before they actually close, I might run in there and pick up one or two books.
 

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
If their closing sale is not going to get any better than the 20-40% off that they have now, it isn't really worth it. Like I said, I might pick up a couple of the magazines that are 40% off, but that's it.

But if they make the discounts 60-80%+ shortly before they actually close, I might run in there and pick up one or two books.


By the time the discounts get above 40%, there isn't much left worth buying. All the good inventory was shipped to stores that are staying open and performing well.
 

Lord Blackadder

macrumors P6
May 7, 2004
15,669
5,499
Sod off
By the time the discounts get above 40%, there isn't much left worth buying. All the good inventory was shipped to stores that are staying open and performing well.

If by "good" you mean "popular", I might still be OK. I'm not interested in Stephen King, biographies of politicians (or Justin Bieber), the Twilight or Harry Potter series, or the DVDs. :D

As far as I know, they are not shipping anything out. Shipping it from AK would cost them a fortune. I expect everything to be liquidated locally, including the store itself.
 

gkarris

macrumors G3
Original poster
Dec 31, 2004
8,301
1,061
"No escape from Reality...”
If by "good" you mean "popular", I might still be OK. I'm not interested in Stephen King, biographies of politicians (or Justin Bieber), the Twilight or Harry Potter series, or the DVDs. :D

As far as I know, they are not shipping anything out. Shipping it from AK would cost them a fortune. I expect everything to be liquidated locally, including the store itself.

It would depend on where you are.

I checked their website and some paperwork says that in some states, they have to hire a "liquidator", while others not.

Around Chicago - they are doing their own and since they are closing only a few stores, they can easily shuffle stuff around.

From AK - yes - not worth it to ship anywhere so they will be liquidating everything....

I thought I heard March 1st or April 1st it will be complete?
 

Antares

macrumors 68000
Yeah. The prices aren't that great right now. 20% off. I don't get why some people are going crazy over it. Like others have said, amazon is still cheaper (especially size you don't have to add on sales tax).

The magazines are a great deal at 40% off. I picked up a bunch. The bargain books are all great at 40% off...but most of the good bargain books were gone by the time I got there. I also picked up a dice game. I would like some shelving and will chack that out later.
 

appleguy123

macrumors 604
Apr 1, 2009
6,863
2,541
15 minutes in the future
If by "good" you mean "popular", I might still be OK. I'm not interested in Stephen King, biographies of politicians (or Justin Bieber), the Twilight or Harry Potter series, or the DVDs. :D

As far as I know, they are not shipping anything out. Shipping it from AK would cost them a fortune. I expect everything to be liquidated locally, including the store itself.
It's quite funny that the Richard Dawkins section was like the most popular place in my store. I thought I'd have free-reign over that spot, but I guess not. :)
 

gkarris

macrumors G3
Original poster
Dec 31, 2004
8,301
1,061
"No escape from Reality...”
Borders failed because of two factors:

1) They don't have a successful mail-order book business to fall back upon.

2) They totally blew it by not shipping their own branded name e-book reader when the field was wide open, especially with the limited distribution of the Amazon Kindle until just recently.

As such, I see Barnes & Noble be even more aggressive into the e-book market, because this will allow for a lot more titles to be available for the Nook e-book reader.

Actually, this article talks about e-reader being less than 4% of the book market:

http://blogs.forbes.com/prospernow/2011/02/21/the-outrage-over-the-borders-bankruptcy-filing/

I think it has to do more with the crap service and the less than ideal cleanliness of the stores (at least the ones near me).
 

rhett7660

macrumors G5
Jan 9, 2008
14,224
4,304
Sunny, Southern California
Snip..

The magazines are a great deal at 40% off. I picked up a bunch. The bargain books are all great at 40% off...but most of the good bargain books were gone by the time I got there. I also picked up a dice game. I would like some shelving and will chack that out later.

Yup,,,, the Magazines prices are pretty good. I went back yesterday and it looked like they brought out some older issues that were in the back. So I was able to pick up a few more. It could of been they were in a different place but there were more magazines.

Going back again to see if there is any change in the prices and maybe pick up a few more magazines.
 

gkarris

macrumors G3
Original poster
Dec 31, 2004
8,301
1,061
"No escape from Reality...”
Yesterday, I stopped in one that was closing.

The mags were 50% off - but most were gone.

Everything else was 25% off. Certain sections (like Art) wer cleared out, while others (like Fitness) still had many books.

Compared to Amazon, not much a savings (especially after local tax), but many were purchasing. It seems most were using gift cards (ha, ha - purposely digging down deep into the desk drawer) trying to use them up and getting the most out of it by buying at a closing store.

I don't blame them - might as well use the card up. They also said that this store would be closed after March 31 but by April 30 (they don't really know).

I'm hearing that they are upping it to 250 (from 200) as far as store closings.

Also, the "next rumor" is that if things continue to go bad for them, Barns and Noble may buy them. That obviously means more store closings where B&N already has one near by...
 

Southerner

macrumors member
Oct 26, 2005
68
0
The deep south of England
Sad news indeed.

At least Borders US is not going to go the way of Borders UK by closing down all of their stores before quitting the UK market completely around 2 years ago.

I liked Borders as the stores were huge and spread out, the decor was modern and airy unlike the dark, stuffy and more overpriced rival Waterstones (similar to Barnes & Noble).

They sold magazines (unlike Waterstones) including international ones like Entertainment Weekly etc.

My closest two Borders stores, here in England, the town store became a Tesco supermarket and the out-of-town big box store became a New Look fashion store! :( :mad:

Now Waterstones is the biggest bookseller in the UK, I have noticed their newest big box stores were laid out similary to Borders' old stores and introducing more bargain sections - like Borders had before - but unfortunatley - apart from the bargains - Waterstones is still too expensive for my liking so I would stick with Amazon and the Book Depository.

Whenever I am in NYC, I always head for Strand Books which the prices can be amazing compared to British prices!
 

SactoGuy18

macrumors 601
Sep 11, 2006
4,348
1,509
Sacramento, CA USA

rhett7660

macrumors G5
Jan 9, 2008
14,224
4,304
Sunny, Southern California
An in other news....

Looks like Borders will be closing a total of 275 (instead of the original 200):

http://blogs.wvgazette.com/wvbookfestival/2011/03/15/borders-bankruptcy-update/

Might as well throw the ones in closer to the end of lease....

Yikes. Just went to the one near me, 30-50% off right now. The magazines are all but gone. There were still a good amount of books and what have you in the store thou. Some dvd's, cd's and blu-rays still but they are still a little too expensive compared to what you can get online. Will be going back again this saturday to see if there is anything left that I just have to have!
 

Daffodil

macrumors 6502
Jun 7, 2011
329
1
In a sunny state of mind
As much as I *love* bookstores, I can't say this comes as too much of a surprise. You can only catch so many people with limited floor-space, whereas Amazon offers a fantastic breadth. As long as there are libraries, and the book doesn't go the way of the dodo entirely (which I don't think it will, any times soon), I'm not too concerned that non-competitive bookstores will be closing left and right.
 

gkarris

macrumors G3
Original poster
Dec 31, 2004
8,301
1,061
"No escape from Reality...”
Store liquidations (again, for the remaining) start this Friday.

Last time this happened the books started at a mere 10% off, but many took advantage of the meager discount with using up giftcards before they're worth zero...
 

gkarris

macrumors G3
Original poster
Dec 31, 2004
8,301
1,061
"No escape from Reality...”
More research for those holding out...

A couple of stores by me just closed immediately (probably having to do with the store lease).

Liquidation sales start Friday. This article states that if you have credit or gift cards with them, they may be worthless when the Liquidator takes over.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4381144...s/t/borders-perks-its-time-use-em-or-lose-em/

“What happens is this: The rewards cards are about to be worthless. Any kind of store credit is about to become worthless,” Cohen said. Once the liquidator takes over, the records for those accounts may no longer be available, so “Go and redeem them as quickly as possible.”
 

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,984
46,448
In a coffee shop.
I've bought a fair number of books over the years from Amazon, but they are the bane of brick and mortar book stores, so I try to avoid them when possible.

I shudder at the thought of most book stores being driven out of business by Amazon, even the big boys like Border's and Barnes & Noble. They are still good places to go to look for occasional sales, relatively cheap classics or for the latest bestsellers.

With that being said, I buy 90% of my books from used book stores, where I get them at 1/2 to 1/10th the price.

Agree with you. Despite their role in the increasing homogenisation of book chain-stores, I'd be sorry to see the behemoths broken; at the end of the day, nothing equals the pleasure of opening a new book bought in a book shop (and I agree re the small, independent book shops). Books read online are just not the same, even the very process of reading them is different.

Anyway, I'm really sorry to see Borders go; it's better for a country, or society, to have more, rather than fewer, book-shops.
 
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