(Photo by Rotem Eldar)
The axe has now fallen, and so we made a stop there yesterday to see how it the deceased and still-cooling corpse was doing.
The whole front entry was already cleared out and empty, echoing hollowly.
With the initial drop in prices, from 10% on most books, to 40% on magazines, and various discounts in-between, the bargain hunters were there in force. Most people we've ever seen in the place, the check-out line backed up all the way to the kiddie book section, seventy, eighty people, and lots more roaming about.
We decided not to stay. It felt like I was one among a flock of vultures, picking through the carcass, and for me, ten percent off on a few books wasn't worth waiting in line for what was going to be a long time.
A few more days of this, some discount dealer coming in to bid on the remains, and Borders here will be done. Dead, empty, shuttered, and adiós.
Mostly I get my books from Powell's in Beaverton, which is just a couple blocks up the road from the Borders, in the Cedar Hills Mall, and for a bunch of reasons: You can get used books there. They take trade-ins for credit or cash. My sci fi guy Peter works there. It's a bigger store than a typical B&N or Borders. (Not a patch size-wise on Big Powell's downtown, but then again, nobody else is, either, vis a vis rack space, certainly not on this coast.) It's the closest bookery to my house anyhow. And when I can, I will support local businesses.
I won't miss Borders as much because of Powell's, but that's four hundred stores
and thousand employees gone, and a lot less rack space for books and CDs–plus our Borders had live music one night a week, small and mostly acoustic groups, and they'll be looking for another place to play.
I hate to see a bookstore close, but if there is an upside to this, it is that with Borders gone, Powell's Beavo will probably get an uptick in business, and I do want to see them stick around.
I remember when the Borders in my area was just starting to thin out their stock. The stupidity was staggering. Borders had started offering 30-40% coupons weekly, with several easy, free ways to get your hands on them; they had been doing this (and advertizing it) for months. Yet, the weekend they first offered 10% off everything in the store, the register lines were a hundred people deep.
ReplyDeleteI needed to pick up Dust of Dreams, called ahead to assess the damage, and got talking to a clerk. She stated that most of the people in the feeding frenzy were waiting for up to one hour with only one or two books in their hands- all to get 10% off. All the while, again, there were weekly offerings of 40% coupons, hard copy and printable. So, as you stated, it was the scavenger in people that brought most of them out those days, not the actual deals; which, of course, just ads to my cynicism about humanity.
Plus, Borders is a national chain, Powells is local for Porkland folks.
ReplyDeleteThat's where my support was when I lived there (Burnside store)...
The 10% wasn't worth it. Plus I still have unread items from when the nearer Borders closed. I'll wait for a week or so when things are 20-40% off and maybe a week after that when things are 60-80% off. Ann Arbor won't be the same without Borders but such is life.
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