Sadly the Borders book store sell off is on the way. Just picked up the Kalmbach modelling the 50’s special for 40% off. All mags are discounted at this level, so those of you that don’t subscribe and like to pick up the odd copy now would be a good time to mosey into Borders. I am sad to see them go, they are the only decent book store in my immediate area.
Simon:
I’m sorry to see the Borders stores close as well. The one here in Sacramento was always a great place to browse and relax. They sponsored concerts and recitals, also. There was always music going on during the weekend. We’ve got Barnes & Noble also, but it’s not quite the same thing. The Borders here in Sacto also had a really good railroading book section.
I’ll miss them.
Tom
Yes, a sad day, indeed. [:(] I’m hoping that Barnes & Noble will still stay afloat. I’m guessing that their Nook business has helped out some in that respect. Books stores are some of the favorite places that my wife and I like to hang out at.
Tom
Books-a-million is acquiring some of the Borders stores. We go to Barnes & Noble anyway. My wife has a Nook Color, which also works with the Public Library.
As I understand it, Borders was doing well when it was run mostly by ‘book-lovers’ (overgeneralization, I know), but faltered when taken over by MBA management (Waldenbook merger, maybe??? - not sure when - oh wait, here from wiki: Borders was acquired in 1992 by Kmart) - for one example, IIRC when they implemented their website around the turn of the century, they neglected to add an option to have the user buy books and have them shipped to the nearest Borders for pick-up, which many people wanted.
I don’t recall the local Borders (which closed earlier this year) really having much of a selection of Railroad perodicals and reference (their Transportation selection was always rather weak). I do remember spending some time there reading (they had an excellent Computer section back then - and yes, I brought books there too so I wasn’t a lounge leech), also took several dates to the Coffe Shop there - but that’s not really railroad related…
The Borders bankruptcy was pretty much inevitable. I had hoped though that they would be able to pull it out of the fire and restructure it somehow. Not surprised though that nobody bought 'em though. They have the same infrastructure in all the same places as their competitors, and since Amazon is pretty much online-only, they’re everywhere and nowhere, and have no use for the overhead / baggage it would drag along with it. And they’ll probably end up making a buck off the books one way or the other in any case.
Welcome to the new age.
If anybody ever read the “Colossus” series of Sci-fi books there’s a lot of similarity between these Mega-stores and Online Giants and Colossus-- but, if you read the books, you know that Colossus was able to finally be defeated.
“Forbin, we are coming…”
John
As a family member of and a worker for a small, independant bookstore owner, might I recommend that people try looking for one near them? There’s still a lot of us around…for now. Borders and Barnes & Noble are not the only bookstores that exist. Many of us small timers are hanging on just because we love books, not because it makes us wealthy. Just do a Google search for bookstore for your local area, and you might find one of us just under your nose. Sort of like that time our own local town newspaper lauded the arrival of Starbucks, and opined that all this town needed was a small, independant bookstore to make living here a complete experience. My mom wrote a letter to the editor to ask, “What are we? Chopped liver?” At that time, we’d been in the town for 15 years, (and even carried that same local newspaper) and their editors didn’t know we existed! Sigh…
Anyways, a special shout out to all browsing cheapskates and not to mention all the Kindle and Nook readers for putting 10,000+ people out of work. Congratulations! (not that I’m bitter or anything…) Double sigh.
Paul A. Cutler III
I guess I’d better jump in before this thread is locked. Independent booksellers are important to a free society. When they all disappear, the big boys and online sellers will dictate what we can read by only offering books they want us to read. Many obscure books won’t be published. Like they LHS and other small independent business, the dollars spent there usually stay in the area, versus going off to a hugh corporation. BUY LOCAL!
Actually, the nook created jobs. Depending on the size of the store, B&N hired at least one full time person (outside hires too) as the lead salesperson for the nook. The outside hire thing made a lot of us grouchy and was one of the many reasons I left B&N.
Don’t get me wrong, as I enjoy my library of printed railroad books, but I believe ultimately digital publishing will actually increase the number of obscure books offered as digital is the perfect medium for small run books.
I agree also, support the brick and mortar book stores. Has anyone noticed how boring shopping is becoming since the internet?
Jay
Sigh…I’m with Paul on this.
There seems to be a commercial real estate melt down going on…with Borders out…there will be even more giant empty buildings to fill with what? Dollar Giants? Meh…
There is here at least 3 independent book stores that cater to the browsing market. Plus there are numerous used book stores that have mrr sections here. Try to search those ones out in your community…and support them.
Unfortunately, there are no book stores in my town. The big box stores have a book section, the thrift stores have a book section, some of the antique dealers sell books, etc. But no dedicated book shops. There were a couple that showed up on web searches when we first moved to town almost 2 years ago, but they were already gone when we went looking for them.
I miss them along with the hobby stores and independent hardware stores.
Paul
Well maybe there’s a bright side… think about it… let’s form a new MRR club and rent one of those shells… 20,000 sq ft layout anyone ???
[(-D]
John
I too want to comment on this before the thread gets locked. Several weeks ago I completed some research on the Manistique and Lake Superior otherwise known as ‘The Haywire.’ This little railroad helped open up an area of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula but progress in the form of new roads, changing life styles and better forms of transportation eventually brought it to an end. I mention this because whether it’s an old railroad of yesteryear or another kind of ‘fallen flag’ we are a little poorer when they close their doors.
better start making your dates railroad related ! ! !
better start making your dates railroad related ! ! !
Paul, your posting struck a cord with me and I have been searching around both the web and the good old fashioned yellow pages and have stumbled upon an independent book store not too far from here that I did not previously know about. I am planning on popping in some time this week.
So many on here are firm advocates of supporting the LHS, and this really is no different except that reading, being a much larger market than the MRR is subject to much larger on-line competition.
This would make a good movie. It should star people like Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks…
The little town I live in is getting a Giant Tiger, like we need it.
Living at what for the next few weeks is still the heart of the Borders chain, this has been pretty rotten for quite a few years.
I started shopping there when it was a single store across two storefronts on the edge of the University of Michigan campus, about 25 years ago. I’ve had about a dozen friends and acquaintances who have been laid off from good jobs there as the company has desperately tried to shrink to a sustainable size over recent years.
Someone pointed out that Borders was doing all right until the “grow, grow, GROW!” crowd took over. Having watched this from very nearby, that is an accurate reading. They did well for a while, but since the management was now loaded with people who knew how to move money around for the sake of moving money around and no understanding of the changes taking place in the actual business that generated the storefront revenue, they were caught completely off guard. It was proof that having the most highly-educated MBAs running the show doesn’t mean anything if nobody is left who understands the underlying business.
Once Borders is gone, all we’ll have left in its hometown of Ann Arbor for (new) bookstores are one reasonably solid, if small, independent shop and a Barnes & Noble. That’s in a town of about 110,000.
Now, in this town we’re known for adopting technology quickly, but there’s a LONG way to go before there’s anywhere near as much available digitally as in hardcopy. And some of us simply refuse to take a laptop or other gadget out to the lake.
'course for train books, we can just go to the hobby shop, right?
Well, Rider’s Hobby in Ypsilanti is closing on July 30, after 65 years in business. Not much of a surprise, really, as they’d been in a inventory-starvation death spiral for a couple of years.
Nearby Michigan Model Train Center is in its last months as the family winds down operations following the death of owner Skip McDonald in May. When MMTC closes, that’ll be it for hob