What goes around comes around I guess.

Little story that me and a few other Borders employees learned.  There are a couple of reasons Borders went under.  The biggest one being the eReader thing that began but mostly because Borders didn't exactly jump in on it fast enough.  And while some may think the Borders Rewards card was part of an undoing... if they'd had it sooner it might've done well for us.  Barnes and Noble offers up a very similar package with their rewards program and it helped them attract more customers because you were getting rewarded for it... points you could eventually use to get pretty much a free book.

But a big thing about Borders going under that we all learned was that the situation with the emerging ebook just wasn't handled well.  Borders thought what just about everyone thought:  "It's just a fad that'll pass."  Unfortunately competing with ebooks AND Amazon wasn't a good idea.  Borders just couldn't figure out a way to match prices.  And then when they FINALLY got some eReader support it was pretty much already over.  Why go with theirs when Amazon's Kindle was superior and Barnes and Noble had one in COLOR!  So they hopped on the bandwagon too late for that one because they were too busy dismissing it.  Fad or not, the eReader certainly has a much bigger impact on the market than a lot of people think.  Who wants to spend 20 bucks on a hardcover bestseller when you can download it on your eReader for a measly ten bucks or so?  Fourteen at the most.  That's still cheaper than even the Trade Paperback price.  You're just getting a better deal all around. 

I spent a bit of time working for Borders in Aurora, Colorado.  When THAT store closed (recently, in fact, it was in April) they transferred me to Lonetree, Colorado.  Some store in a resort Mall (Park Meadows) and then they announced a couple of months afterwards that they just couldn't compete and they were going under.  Since I wasn't up for another closing sale I quit.  No store to be transferred to or anything like that.

Barnes and Noble on the other hand WAS in the same boat for some time.  They're not anymore.  They were recently acquired by a bigger company and they actually turned a profit last year.  IN part their Nook just happens to be doing great.  But their online sector is also doing fairly well.  But I've also heard they want to phase out their stores and pretty much become an online only retailer.  Which is sad.  I recently got a call from them asking if I'd come and work for them.

It's kind of sad.  I enjoy reading... but for some reason can't stomach the eReader.  I mean that literally, they give me absurd headaches for some reason and my eyes begin to hurt after a while (but that's not the eReaders fault I think anyone's eyes would go weary staring at a particular screen for too long). 

Good article but I agree with your title -- and say good riddance! The local bookstores now can start growing. In the Bay Area, Green Apple Books, a local store, has crowds now. Alexandria Books downtown looks healthy. It's a great move for the little guy and I"m glad of it. Yeah, there will be electronic readers and so on but there's no substitute for a good thick book where you can turn the pages and smell the must, LOL.

Great post, Paul. This is really sad. And just as I was getting into books again! My latest book purchase was actually a huge one through their website, which was a great experience, so I hope that even if their stand alone stores are no longer around, that they'll continue operating through their site.

I agree with you on your thoughts regarding B&N. I'm very sad to see Borders going out of business. It was always my favorite in person bookstore to shop at.