the Way of the Turtle

Borders Files For Bankruptcy
Thursday, February 17, 2011

Word has been flying around about Borders being in financial trouble for a while now; that was confirmed in a really big way yesterday when the company filed for bankruptcy protection. Word is they're looking to close about 1/3 of their stores as they reorganize and try to find a way to have a productive future in the bookselling business.

It's no great surprise that a chain of bookstores is having financial problems, between Amazon commanding a strong share of the marketplace and Borders apparent inability to break into both the online sales and the e-book arenas. And let's not forget that people are just plain not buying as many books; while I don't have any data to back this up, my impression is that many people these days would say that reading is overrated.

The reasons for Borders' difficulties are outlined in a multitude of articles. I'm not going to rehash those here. Certainly Borders has lagged far behind as Amazon and Barnes & Noble have embraced a variety of new technologies, and no doubt their management has made many mistakes... but I tend to think Borders' biggest mistake has been in forgetting what they used to be - a top-notch book store, both for people who love books and for people who might just pop in looking for a best-seller or something for their kids. I used to love Borders because I could find books and CDs there that I couldn't find anywhere else. Now I mostly end up buying books at Amazon (because Borders doesn't carry them or Amazon offers a good discount) and CDs on Ebay (because who buys CDs anymore, besides me?) Borders get my business primarily when they send me a hefty coupon or when I've accumulated enough Borders Bucks through my purchases that I can save a bunch of money by shopping at Borders.

So why do I care that before too long Borders may have gone the way of Ames, Caldor, and CompUSA? Simple - because they are a major player in book sales, and I buy and read a lot of books... and the loss of such a major player can only be negative for the rest of the industry. And I hope they manage to find their way again, even if it's at the price of closing a number of stores around the northeast that I've shopped in during my travels. But I can't say I'm all that hopeful.

JMH