Borders on Brink of Liquidation

[OverDone]

Source: WSJ

Borders Group Inc. stood on the brink of liquidation after a recent offer for the bookstore chain from a private-equity investor fell apart late Wednesday.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303406104576444363892095874.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

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Borders, in serious danger of possibly collapsing and may also close all stores. This is getting pretty insane as this is a major retail outlet, not just small 1 or 2 stores.
Recovery? I don't know at all. I see many others here
http://www.dailyjobcuts.com

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Corporate book sellers have put smaller, independent stores out of business

since the Eighties. Now they fold. Pretty soon it will just be Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

[Ian David]

2. Didn't they just pay their executives a huge bonus? n/t

[Skink]

4. all going to plan.

[atreides1]

5. yes they did

And with the assistance of a federal judge, too!

[leveymg]

3. I still love hanging out at Borders, and mourn the passing of 1 of the last "public" spaces.

You can't hang out at Amazon and browse the merchandise while sipping a Caramel Machiatto. The move to on-line book retail is turning us into cave dwellers.

[LiberalEsto]

6. That's the corporate idea

They don't want people like us to assemble and share ideas. Heaven forbid we might start planning a revolt.

[leveymg]

7. +1

[harmonicon]

9. psst... libraries. nt.

[starroute]

13. You can't hang out at libraries the same way

They're not really social spaces. They're places where you have to whisper. They're not places to meet friends, talk freely, enjoy a cafe-type atmosphere.

Also, the books in libraries are mostly old -- and with budgets being cut, the small new books areas are shrinking further. Part of the appeal of bookstores is the promise of finding things that are new and radical and thought-provoking.

Libraries are essential -- but they can't fill the hole left when bookstores die.

[riderinthestorm]

14. My town built a new library last year and it has a cafe

and a very similar feel to the big box bookstores. It IS a place to socialize, drink coffee or eat lunch. They even have a used bookstore there and sell local hand-made crafts from local artisans in the town.

It's a gem and I believe if more libraries could do this, they'd be more successful.

[Dappleganger]

16. What a great idea!

Do they have a website with pictures, I'd love to see them.

[riderinthestorm]

18. Sure!

Here's the website link:

http://www.sugargrove.lib.il.us/site/

As you can see, it's brand new but notice the truncated hours. The good citizens voted for its construction but not to fully fund it. I mentioned that fun fact to Randy Hultgren's people yesterday when I went to speak my piece about the debt ceiling talks.

It's absolutely gorgeous inside. There aren't too many pics on the website but I haven't spent much time browsing all the links.

Enjoy!

[Dappleganger]

19. How impressive!

The fireplace and lighting look amazing (I watched two of the videos). If more libraries were like this community-type center, that would make very life very sweet! Can't imagine how much that must've cost but I would be happy to pay in order to have access to something like that each year.

[CaliforniaHiker]

8. The Borders near me

went out of business awhile ago, and the space is still empty. Anything that decreases the number of places to buy books is sad.

[grahamhgreen]

10. What is a "book"?

:hi:

[stockholmer]

15. classic

:hi:

[LetTimmySmoke]

17. Just some silly object that elitist democrats like to collect and use.

Pay no mind of it, and look at this picture for 10 seconds:

[andym]

11. They need to expand the cafe concept even more

to provide a social space that Amazon can not possibly compete with. Need to integrate eBooks as well-- maybe a free ebook over their free internet to provide something for people to talk about.

[Rebubula]

12. Sort of 'meh'...

...we will be seeing this kind of thing more and more due to the changing technology. Newspapers are clinging on life support and will be gone soon (at least printed versions) and more people are reading ebooks only (personally - I will never - lol, never say never - switch to ebooks).

This is not some big conspiracy or lack of recovery - this is the changing face of technology.

[Psephos]

22. Yes, it's as you say.

It's human nature to want things to stay the same as they once were.

However, if that desire were consistently honored, we'd still be hunting dinner with a spear.

[Akoto]

20. I was really bummed when my local Borders closed.

I am a gaming nerd, and they were one of the only local places to carry gaming (ie D&D) books. In fact, I could often find most any book I wanted in there.

There were two ladies I knew there who had been with the store since it opened long ago. They found out about the closings not from their bosses, but on the local news. Since it was a bankruptcy, that meant they were being let go after all that time with zero compensation or severance.

[skypilot]

21. Borders was a HORRIBLE place to work.

I worked there for three years and kinda liked it the first year (even though they paid NOTHING) because I was so glad to have a job that wasn't retail food, which is what I'd been doing for years. The folks at the home office were just complete idiots and we were at their mercy. I could feel them running the company into the ground when I worked there 10 years ago. We'd have these young people coming in to apply for a job and saying that working at Borders would be their "dream job". If they only knew. Now they'll probably never know what a horrible workplace it is/was. I do feel bad for all the people who are going to lose their jobs. I'm sure Borders screwed them right up to the very end. It's just the way they did things.