<p>I’m sorry to hear about the demise of Borders. I hope Barnes and Noble isn’t next.</p>
<p>As much as I like the convenience of online shopping, there’s something special about being able to browse in a physical, brick-and-mortar bookstore. You can’t always judge a book by the excerpts and reviews on Amazon; sometimes you actually need to see it before you buy it.</p>
<p>But I fear that is becoming an experience of the past.</p>
<p>Chain book stores, Borders among them, devastated independent bookstores with illegal predatory business practices. I’m not sorry to see Borders go, and would be happy if Big and Nasty disappeared as well. That would give locally owned independent stores, which generate more money for their local communities, a fair shot at making it in the book business.</p>
<p>Borders was doomed by their management years ago. They signed on to let Amazon manage their website, which resulted in them being undercut on prices 100% of the time and order fulfillment was not as good. They were slow to adopt eReaders, at least B&N has the Nook, which some people like better than the Kindle. </p>
<p>Article in WSJ today that Borders demise will hurt new authors, as they will not have as many outlets for new books. I’m not sure if that makes sense, as the cost to print & distribute is quite high and if they offered them inexpensively for eReaders, they might find a wider audience. </p>
<p>@katliamom - Borders was down to 399 locations, so I’m not sure how they killed the independent book seller. IMO, many books are a commodity, so ordering them online is easier than any brick-n-mortar retailer, be it a chain or independent. Our town has an independent book store that is thriving because they offer superior customer service (the sales staff has actually read most of the books on the displays), showcase local authors and have activities during the day for the pre-school set. It replaced a small store a few years ago that had 2 people on staff at most times, including teenagers that didn’t even smile.</p>
<p>When I was younger, I loved to go to the Borders that was 300 yards from my house and 200 yards from my school. It was a magical experience … the books, the music, the kids’ section, and the coffee shop. My parents would also take me to the smaller independent bookstore, but it was different, but touching older book was also magical. </p>
<p>The best part of an out-of-state soccer trip to Denver was a visit to the Tattered Cover Book Store. See [Tattered</a> Cover Book Store](<a href=“http://www.tatteredcover.com%5DTattered”>http://www.tatteredcover.com). </p>
<p>However, just as everyone who has expressed their love for Amazon Prime, I cannot resist the ease of ordering (many) books online. Coupled with access to fabulous libraries, it has become harder and harder to justify making a trip to a bookstore that has few choices and does NOT have the expert guidance of Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail, but a couple of rather clueless, nose-pierced, and tatooed punkers or goths. </p>
<p>Bookstores, if not selling expertise and convenience, need to sell a rewarding experience to their clients. Fwiw, Barnes and Noble never did that; Borders did it for a while. But both are dinosaurs and the Nook will not save them as the e-reader has become a low hanging fruit. However, I believe new ideas will emerge. In a recent trip in Europe, I stumbled upon an interesting concept. See [COOK&BOOK</a> : Homepage - Bienvenue !](<a href=“http://www.cookandbook.be/]COOK&BOOK”>http://www.cookandbook.be/) … perhaps this is the future for independent bookstores. More than food. More than books. Simply something that patrons will enjoy and justify battling traffic and potential parking hassles.</p>
<p>nj2011 - chains definitely did a number on independents in the past couple of decades. There was a major anti-trust/price fixing lawsuit about it in the 90s. For one, chains negotiated such low prices that independents could not compete. And then they went after those that tried: for example, they would build two mega stores within a few miles of a thriving independent and drive it out of business. Then they’d shut down one of the megas, and raise the prices at the second. Chains would go into communities where individual idependent stores created a market for a bookstore, then go into that community and decimate the independent. Independents could only really thrive in areas where there were no chains nearby. Between that and e-books, and the general decline of reading as a popular pastime, the neighborhood bookstore in many areas went the way of the dodo. But let’s not kid ourselves: chains had a lot to do with it.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>It’s the Walmart story versus the small corner store. But, in the end, the decision was made by customers who picked convenience over poor service and poor opening hours. The stores who understood the needs of clients found a way to survive.</p>
<p>xiggi - that’s true only in a few areas. And it’s funny you should mention Tattered Cover. Their main store (at the time there were 2) was in danger a few years back after a B&N opened a couple of miles away. Lucky, TC is beloved in Denver, and the city made local/national urban renewal funds available for it to move to a ‘developing’ neighborhood farther away. That store is much smaller than its predecessor but still very much alive, thanks to fierce loyal support from the city and its customers. Few independents enjoy such privileges.</p>
<p>And as to Walmart, you’re right. </p>
<p>But I for one don’t think the Walmartization of America is a good thing. I think it’s a thing worth fighting. Hence no tears over Borders.</p>
<p>I have fond memories of the original Borders Book Shop in Ann Arbor in the 80’s, when I was a student at Michigan. It was quite different from their large chain stores of today, but I am still sorry to hear of their demise.</p>
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<p>I only visited the now closed Cherry Creek location, and I do not know their few new stores. I am not surprised that people in Denver continue to support them.</p>
<p>I was also expressing the thought that someone (me) who likes bookstores might also have contributed to their demise by opting for the convenience and ease of Amazon. Of course, I think I spend much more on other products sold by Amazon than on books. Whoever came up with the idea of Amazon Prime can take the credit for that. ;)</p>
<p>I do not think the issue is larger versus small stores. It is stores versus on-line retailers who typically refuse to collect sales taxes and the largest one–Amazon–admits that is a key portion of their strategy and they fight states passing laws to collect the taxes to the death. They are a free-loading pariah compared to all real stores.</p>
<p>^^^^ that is part of the issue today, certainly. But despite Amazon many independent stores can - and do - thrive by offering things Amazon can’t: the ability to touch the books & easily explore the inventory, the ability to meet authors, get a coffee, even join a knitting group 
But independents can’t really do that with a B&N in their neighborhood offering deep discounts that the independent doesn’t have a shot at. So yes, in many places it IS large vs small, even if the small store offers a better selection, better customer service and brings more $$ into the neighborhood.</p>
<p>I’ve always preferred Borders to Barnes and Noble. I worked my first job there four years ago and it was a great experience-- got paid more than most places in the area for similar level work, we had a 30% employee discount, plus a substantial additional discount for employee appreciation during the christmas holidays, and the ability to “check out” the books for free. I’m sad to see them go, they just opened a big store a block down from me a few years ago and everybody loved it. Now we’ll have to go back to driving 20 minutes to the Barnes and Noble to get to a brick and mortar store.</p>
<p>I think the big box stores were the first culprit, but now the real issue is the online retailers. It’s really too bad because I really like buying books in a real book store. I’ll pay more if you make the experience pleasant. Our Borders carried lots of magazines, had comfy furniture and adequate help so I often shopped there. Recently my son was looking for a new sci fi novel which I had suggested he order from Amazon, but he didn’t. We looked at the local small indy which had about ten sci fi books. The woman at the desk never looked up during the ten minutes we were in her shop. We went to another bookstore that a friend of mine started. Since it’s mostly children’s books I wasn’t too hopeful, and indeed, they didn’t have the book, but boy what a difference! My friend wasn’t there, but the young woman at the desk asked us if she could help us from the minute we walked in. I ended up buying a couple of books from her that I hadn’t planned on she was so good at her job!</p>
<p>The time of Borders, B&N, and most other bookstores is past just like the horse-drawn buggy. I don’t miss them and am happy to embrace the new technology which allows me instant access, access to far more books, often less expensive books, a technology that allows access to the market by far more authors/publishers, allows me to carry as many books as I want at once, and a more environmentally friendly means of reading books as opposed to cutting trees, hauling them to a paper mill, hauling heavy paper to print shops to have (likely) toxic ink applied to them, then hauled yet again to physical stores.</p>
<p>I think traditional libraries are and s/b next on the chopping block.</p>
<p>If you don’t already have a Kindle, Nook, iPad, or some other book reading device - give it a try.</p>
<p>I have a Kindle and an iPad, and Nook on the computer, but I would hate if it were the only way to read books or magazines. There is something about books, especially older books that makes the experience unique. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I truly hope that the development of technology will decapitate the textbook industry and totally eradicate their current practices that add billions to our education system. The answer is not to force all students to use an e-reader, but to force editors to stop producing an asinine number of revisions and only charge prices comparable to the non-education sector. Books on calculus or economy that costs well over 100 dollars are part of an organized theft ring.</p>
<p>With all respect due to Stewart, this is highway robbery:</p>
<p>Calculus: Early Transcendentals (Stewart’s Calculus Series)
Hardcover: 1336 pages
Publisher: Brooks Cole; 6 edition (June 7, 2007)
List Price: $224.95
Price: $191.72 </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Early-Transcendentals-Stewarts/dp/0495011665[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Early-Transcendentals-Stewarts/dp/0495011665</a></p>
<p>Something the Brits seem to understand</p>
<p>Calculus: Early Transcendentals
Hardcover: 1308 pages
Publisher: Brooks/Cole; 7th Revised edition edition (23 Oct 2011)
RRP: £49.99
Price: £47.49 </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.amazon.co.uk/Calculus-Early-Transcendentals-James-Stewart/dp/0538498870/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1311107223&sr=8-2[/url]”>http://www.amazon.co.uk/Calculus-Early-Transcendentals-James-Stewart/dp/0538498870/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1311107223&sr=8-2</a></p>
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<p>I have a Kindle. I’m disappointed with it. The Kindle makes it difficult to skip around in a book. I like to skip around.</p>
<p>Most electronic devices contain toxins and end up polluting.</p>
<p>[Electronic</a> waste - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste]Electronic”>Electronic waste - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>I have bought many books that I didn’t know existed until I saw them in a store. I just don’t think I’ll do that with Amazon, at least full-price hardback books. It makes me wonder whether certain types of book might dry up.</p>
<p>I have a Kindle. I also use the library A LOT. </p>
<p>Libraries are changing. I have to disagree with uc/dad when he thinks they should be on the chopping block!</p>
<p>Libraries are pretty amazing places these days. I do borrow books from them–for free. I can ask for almost anything and the library will get if for me. This includes not only books, but old newspapers, public records, movies, etc. I’ve taken free computer classes there. The libraries here run a gazillion classes. They sponsor reading clubs for children of different age levels and adults. They offer author talks and occasional music performances. Some show films. The libraries here (NYC) have books and movies in lots of languages. The librarians are de facto social workers who help newcomers-- especially, but not only immigrants-- figure out how to fill out tax forms, get a driver’s license, register their children for school, navigate the maze of middle school/ high school choice, register to vote, figure out which city agency is responsible for dealing with a problem they want to report. They MAIL books to those with mobility problems. </p>
<p>You can use computers at them for free and print out documents for a small fee. People who can’t afford internet access send and receive all their email at the library. (Try getting a job without an email address these days!) They have the standard programs like WORD, etc., so kids whose families don’t have computers can do school work. They have lots of databases, some of which you can use from home with a library card. They have librarians on duty most of the day to help you find the answer to questions. </p>
<p>They are also “babysitters” for a lot of working class parents. A fair number of kids in my neighborhood head to the library after school every school day and work on their homework or read for pleasure or play computer games until mom or dad gets home from work and pick them up. It’s a safe place for them to be for two or three hours on their own. </p>
<p>The libraries here are always PACKED.If I ever win a lot of money in the lottery, a big chunk will go to the New York Public Library. I can think of no other institution that helps as many people of all different ages, socioeconomic status, races, religions and ethnicities as it does.</p>