WHAT'S UP WITH BORDERS ?

[Harold_Z]

The Borders nearest me (West Belt Mall near Willowbrook in Wayne, NJ) is closing in late January. Everything in the store is discounted 25% to 50%. I asked the clerk if all the stores were closing and she said no. I mentioned it to a friend and he mentioned that Walden Books (associated with Borders) was going under.

Anybody know anything?

[Jazzmoose]

I know nothing....

[T.D.]

Waldenbooks is a subsidiary of Borders Group, which is a publicly traded company, ticker BGP.

Earlier this year (March), BGP announced downsizing of the Waldenbooks chain.

Here's a company press release, in which they call it "right-sizing".

I didn't notice any recent news about "going under".

Edited December 31, 2007 by T.D.

[BruceH]

They're probably at least as secure as Tower.

[GregK]

Ann Arbor is the headquarters of Borders Group, so they are frequently in the local business news. Indeed they are downsizing Waldenbooks, as part of a chain-wide restructuring. Waldenbooks are being turned into Borders Express stores, and new store openings are going to be some sort of prototype Borders media store, whatever that means. There will be one of these new Borders stores opening in Ann Arbor in a few months, so I will check it out as soon as they are open. But it doesn't seem that they are going under, in spite of all the bad news about their stock price and revenues.

[BERIGAN]

Well, I worked at Waldenbooks, then Borders from 1993 to 1999, so no, I know nothing as well!

Seriously, I lost my "inside" connections years ago (Great job, but the pay is beyond terrible-people make more as a cashier at Target) but the "plan" has been to close down Waldenbooks stores for years. I think it's stupid to give up customers that shop at malls, (They have opened a few Borders in malls) but that hasn't stopped them.

Borders used to brag that they didn't close stores, but that's not the case anymore. I started at a Borders north of Atlanta in 1995. They closed that store around 2001(I think?) Of course, they had spread all over the north side of Atlanta and said it didn't matter, it wouldn't hurt sales at other stores....yeah, right. Anyway, they do close stores now. I'd love to see if that store near you is really bleeding red, or if it's sales are down 5-6% and they are just giving up on locations down a bit....no sense in seeing if we can turn around the ship, just close the location! Won't we make more money with fewer stores for customers to shop at???

Borders is losing money nowadays , and it's stock is down more than 50% since May(When it no doubt went up to a recent high after news in March of Borders becoming a leaner, meaner store)

From the March story from the NYT it shows how another non Borders CEO(Last thing you want to do is hire smart people who have worked their way up from within and know the book biz ) a guy from Saks, had all sorts of swell ideas like doing away with Amazon online deal, and starting a new web site! Of course, they joined late the online business, which is why they partnered up with amazon in the first place, but now everyone will just rush to a Borders website! Double

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/business/23barnes.html

And another story about how stupid the new CEO is

http://www.thepublishingcontrarian.com/200...rnes-noble-inc/

[BERIGAN]

Ghost, do you know anything about what's going on at Borders today???

[Tim McG]

I know nothing....

Me either.

[MoGrubb]

The internet's probably sucking up their business.

[Larry Kart]

I probably represent a part of Borders' problems. Here's an actual thought I had a few weeks ago, with some Border's 30 percent off or 40 percent off coupons in hand. I can drive five or ten miles in winter pre-Holiday traffic to one of the two nearby Borders stores that are decently stocked, though at both of those stores the classical and jazz CD stock is far from what it once was. Also, even with the coupons, I can get the same things from Amazon, and with their typical discounts, and with a free-shipping-sized order and no sales tax, I'm about at the same point price-wise. Also, if Amazon has what I want, I know that they do; at Borders, even if I check online to see if they have it, they may not. The only drawback with Amazon is that I have to wait a few days till the stuff gets to me, but so what? On that day, with snow in the forecast, Borders lost out. The only reason it might not is if I were going that way for another non-impulse reason.

[Harold_Z]

I probably represent a part of Borders' problems. Here's an actual thought I had a few weeks ago, with some Border's 30 percent off or 40 percent off coupons in hand. I can drive five or ten miles in winter pre-Holiday traffic to one of the two nearby Borders stores that are decently stocked, though at both of those stores the classical and jazz CD stock is far from what it once was. Also, even with the coupons, I can get the same things from Amazon, and with their typical discounts, and with a free-shipping-sized order and no sales tax, I'm about at the same point price-wise. Also, if Amazon has what I want, I know that they do; at Borders, even if I check online to see if they have it, they may not. The only drawback with Amazon is that I have to wait a few days till the stuff gets to me, but so what? On that day, with snow in the forecast, Borders lost out. The only reason it might not is if I were going that way for another non-impulse reason.

I pretty much feel the same way, except that I found myself in this particular store frequently - at least 2 or 3 times a month if not more. It's in the same mall as some stores that my wife frequents and I would kill time in the Borders - consequently (with the various coupons) I would do a fair amount of impulse buying. Now I'll just grab one of those seats in the mall and dig my ipod.

At any rate I'm glad that the whole chain isn't going - There's a couple of others in my area that I occasionally go to and I also make it a stop when I'm in Alexandria, Va. or Bangor, Maine, Two places I find myself in now and again.

Thanks Berigan and T.D. for those links.

[GregK]

I probably represent a part of Borders' problems. Here's an actual thought I had a few weeks ago, with some Border's 30 percent off or 40 percent off coupons in hand. I can drive five or ten miles in winter pre-Holiday traffic to one of the two nearby Borders stores that are decently stocked, though at both of those stores the classical and jazz CD stock is far from what it once was. Also, even with the coupons, I can get the same things from Amazon, and with their typical discounts, and with a free-shipping-sized order and no sales tax, I'm about at the same point price-wise. Also, if Amazon has what I want, I know that they do; at Borders, even if I check online to see if they have it, they may not. The only drawback with Amazon is that I have to wait a few days till the stuff gets to me, but so what? On that day, with snow in the forecast, Borders lost out. The only reason it might not is if I were going that way for another non-impulse reason.

I pretty much feel the same way, except that I found myself in this particular store frequently - at least 2 or 3 times a month if not more. It's in the same mall as some stores that my wife frequents and I would kill time in the Borders - consequently (with the various coupons) I would do a fair amount of impulse buying. Now I'll just grab one of those seats in the mall and dig my ipod.

At any rate I'm glad that the whole chain isn't going - There's a couple of others in my area that I occasionally go to and I also make it a stop when I'm in Alexandria, Va. or Bangor, Maine, Two places I find myself in now and again.

Thanks Berigan and T.D. for those links.

Doesn't that Bangor Borders have a picture of the staff at the original Borders store on the wall of the stairway?

[Harold_Z]

Doesn't that Bangor Borders have a picture of the staff at the original Borders store on the wall of the stairway?

Not sure - I haven't been to that one for a couple of years but I'll be going there this summer. BTW - that's about the only Borders where I've really found some good deals on cut out or just plain cds they weren't selling. I found quite a few Ace or Flame (British) cds there a few years back for $1.99 !!

[Harold_Z]

Doesn't that Bangor Borders have a picture of the staff at the original Borders store on the wall of the stairway?

Not sure - I haven't been to that one for a couple of years but I'll be going there this summer. BTW - that's about the only Borders where I've really found some good deals on cut out or just plain cds they weren't selling. I found quite a few Ace or Flame (British) cds there a few years back for $1.99 !!

[WD45]

So the Borders by my office is going out of business, with doors set to close on Feb 2nd. Everything is at least 25% off, with a few things at 50%.

My question -- how low will they go, in terms of final percent off, and when? Will the discount increase 5% each week or something? When the Sam Goody store nearby closed, that was the case. [Not that they are related, of course.]

[WD45]

Just nabbed the Frank Sinatra Concepts boxed set for $32. There were a bunch over there, couldn't believe it!

[GregK]

well, the end is near. A new "concept store" opened in Ann Arbor today. It reminds me of Barnes and Noble, or maybe even Media Play. Sad to think that the flagship store downtown had an entire room dedicated to jazz (it still has a decent selection), and now this new store has 3 rows only in the jazz section. For a joke I checked out the Coltrane selection-a few of the Plays for Lovers compilation, one or two other compilations, and Ballads. It's hard to believe but I have bought a few Braxton titles at Borders over the years!

http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/ind....xml&coll=2

[Free For All]

Several people had mentioned this on the Borders coupon thread and I thought I'd move the discussion to this thread.

There seems to be a fairly drastic phasing-out of CDs that has begun at Borders- last weeks my local store (and others, apparently) changed the entire CD display area around, and the result is a much smaller selection overall, definitely in the jazz area. They used to have the box sets in a locked glass case, but now they're just out in the open as if their value is much less, which I expect is the case. Anyone else noticing this at their local Borders?

I do most of my CD buying online and go into Borders mostly when there is a sale or coupon, but Borders was one of the last brick-and-mortar places left to browse CDs. It seems to be going the way of the Best Buy chain which used to have an excellent CD selection.

All these big CD sales lately have been great, but I also have a sense of dread about the whole thing, like we're seeing the demise of the format altogether. We've gone from LP-size liner notes/art to CD-size liner notes/art to NO liner notes/art (downloading).

I don't know, it just makes me a little sad.

[Dan Gould]

Several people had mentioned this on the Borders coupon thread and I thought I'd move the discussion to this thread.

There seems to be a fairly drastic phasing-out of CDs that has begun at Borders- last weeks my local store (and others, apparently) changed the entire CD display area around, and the result is a much smaller selection overall, definitely in the jazz area. They used to have the box sets in a locked glass case, but now they're just out in the open as if their value is much less, which I expect is the case. Anyone else noticing this at their local Borders?

I do most of my CD buying online and go into Borders mostly when there is a sale or coupon, but Borders was one of the last brick-and-mortar places left to browse CDs. It seems to be going the way of the Best Buy chain which used to have an excellent CD selection.

All these big CD sales lately have been great, but I also have a sense of dread about the whole thing, like we're seeing the demise of the format altogether. We've gone from LP-size liner notes/art to CD-size liner notes/art to NO liner notes/art (downloading).

I don't know, it just makes me a little sad.

Paul,

you should be glad that Borders was even in Tallahassee when you got there. When I was living there in the mid-90s, it was Vinyl Fever plus a little CD store on North Monroe, and one halfway decent chain store across the street from where Borders is now (that place had a good selection but screwed up management - They had an Eastern Rebellion CD in the stacks for $22.99 when I knew that Vinyl Fever had it for $13. They insisted that as an "import" it was the correct price and refused to match Vinyl Fever. No wonder the whole chain went out of business). I was lucky that Borders opened up about a year before I left for south Florida.

Anyway - I haven't been in Borders for about three weeks so I can't say if the local ones are squeezing the CDs down again. Wouldn't surprise me though.

[poetrylover3]

The Borders in Brentwood (St Louis County) MO closed down right after New Years due to a water main break and still hasn't re-opened more than 60 days later, which is a pain for me as the nearest Borders is now 20 minutes or so away versus 5-10. I buy mostly books there and hadn't noticed the jazz section shrinking. There's a Barnes and Noble closer but I don't go there out of sheer habit, knowing that the CD selection and pricing is pure crap.

Here's hoping that they re-open soon.

[Big Al]

Y'know, as much as I lament the disappearing CDs at Borders, I have to admit that without the coupons, I wouldn't buy from them in the first place. I have a feeling I'm not alone in this, but then again this is Arlington, cultural wasteland of the US. I think Borders had a jazz section just to see if it really was true. It was.

[connoisseur series500]

I went into the local Borders armed with my 40% coupon and couldn't find crap to spend it on. I ended up just browsing through a few chess books. Wish I had a 40% off book coupon! I know, I know, they do have those sometimes.

[GregK]

Several people had mentioned this on the Borders coupon thread and I thought I'd move the discussion to this thread.

There seems to be a fairly drastic phasing-out of CDs that has begun at Borders- last weeks my local store (and others, apparently) changed the entire CD display area around, and the result is a much smaller selection overall, definitely in the jazz area. They used to have the box sets in a locked glass case, but now they're just out in the open as if their value is much less, which I expect is the case. Anyone else noticing this at their local Borders?

I do most of my CD buying online and go into Borders mostly when there is a sale or coupon, but Borders was one of the last brick-and-mortar places left to browse CDs. It seems to be going the way of the Best Buy chain which used to have an excellent CD selection.

All these big CD sales lately have been great, but I also have a sense of dread about the whole thing, like we're seeing the demise of the format altogether. We've gone from LP-size liner notes/art to CD-size liner notes/art to NO liner notes/art (downloading).

I don't know, it just makes me a little sad.

The new Borders in Ann Arbor (the concept store I mentioned earlier) has a lot of box sets, in the usual glass case. And since this is a new store, I'd think that if they were changing their display that they would have done it from the get-go there.

For the book-buyers among us, the new Borders is now placing as many books as possible face-out, instead of spine. Which means they have to carry less book inventory

[JSngry]

Several people had mentioned this on the Borders coupon thread and I thought I'd move the discussion to this thread.

There seems to be a fairly drastic phasing-out of CDs that has begun at Borders- last weeks my local store (and others, apparently) changed the entire CD display area around, and the result is a much smaller selection overall, definitely in the jazz area. They used to have the box sets in a locked glass case, but now they're just out in the open as if their value is much less, which I expect is the case. Anyone else noticing this at their local Borders?

I do most of my CD buying online and go into Borders mostly when there is a sale or coupon, but Borders was one of the last brick-and-mortar places left to browse CDs. It seems to be going the way of the Best Buy chain which used to have an excellent CD selection.

All these big CD sales lately have been great, but I also have a sense of dread about the whole thing, like we're seeing the demise of the format altogether. We've gone from LP-size liner notes/art to CD-size liner notes/art to NO liner notes/art (downloading).

I don't know, it just makes me a little sad.

I was just in one this afternoon, for the first time in quite a while, and the CD selection was....pathetic. So I asked the lady what the deal was, and she said they're cutting back on in-store inventory, but that a lot of stores are going to offer download kiosks with access to something like 400,000 songs that will burn you albums or song collections of your choice and print out album artwork.

All of which would have been pretty cool, like 10 years ago....

Edited March 18, 2008 by JSngry

[Free For All]

It's funny, I was in the store today (using the 40% off coupon ) and while checking out I asked if Borders was phasing out CDs.

I got a definite programmed response, like "Why, not at all! Move along, please......nothing to see here....."