Borders Closing Down (Liquidation to Begin Immediately)

[Scribblesense]

So Borders is done! Kaput, finished, six feet under, dancing on the head of a pin, worm buffet. Sigh. Honestly, I'm sad to see them go (mostly because my town doesn't have a Barnes & Noble). They are the first death throes of the brick-and-mortar bookstore as we march forward into a digital age. Not that hardcover/paperback sales will ever truly die (hell, they're still releasing albums on vinyl), but I'm certain digital distribution is going to be the largest market for books from here on out.

But one good thing about Borders going out of business is they are liquidating their entire inventory - which means everything in their stores is discounted 10-40% off! Woohoo!

Well, that's what they want you to think. When I flocked to my local Borders on Friday with the rest of the vultures, I found that everything was at least 10% off, even the sodas they had in their fridge, but for a twenty to thirty dollar book, that's really not much. DVDs/Blu-Rays and CDs were 20% off (a fairly good deal considering most of them are way cheaper than a hardcover book), and the only things I found that were 40% off were magazines and greeting cards. For a $200.00 bill, I saved about thirty bucks. The savings aren't great, but it was a great excuse to blow two hundred bucks.

The liquidation is ongoing, and most likely won't be done for the next month or so, and I'll bet towards the end the discounts will be greater and greater.

So, wanna know what I got? Here you go:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Loved Scott Pilgrim, so I thought I'd check out Bryan Lee O'Malley's other book. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if he'll see any royalties from this sale (I'm not sure how bankruptcy and the rest works in relation to blah blah blah), so maybe I'll send him some brownies on his birthday.


I was always hoping I'd find this one on the shelf so I'd have an excuse to buy it, and this was a perfect occasion. I'm really looking forward to reading this one, and holding it under my arm the next time some pushy evangelists come knocking at my door.



I actually got the newly released version of Game of Thrones with Boromir on the front, and I figured I'd see what all the fuss is about, heh. I'm really glad the font is rather big - I hate those huge novels that have letters about three electrons high.


That's a lot of face. This one was already on the clearance rack for five bucks and discounted 10% past that, so now I can afford a stick of gum. It's a lot different that I thought it would be - inside, there are a lot of graphs and images and stupid quotes about whatever Colbert's staff of writers was thinking about at the time. Looks like dumb fun.


I already loved the hell out of a paperback edition of this, but thought a hardcover would look good sitting on my shelf because I doubt I will ever read it again. I'd recommend this book over every other one on this list.


Because I needed to be reminded how utterly stupid I am. It's David Foster Wallace's final and unfinished novel before he lost his battle with depression. If you've never read David Foster Wallace, I'll tell you one thing: it's not light reading. In fact, everything he's ever written reads like the manual to an MRI machine. He was a brilliant man who thought completely in jargon and it shows. When I can sit still for longer than five minutes, I'll be giving it an intensive read.


I didn't actually have a copy of this, go figure. Atticus Finch is one of my favorite characters in literature, and felt I should pick up a copy.

And of course, they just don't have DVDs there. I also got:


Amazing/awesome/astounding/austere film about Kurt Russell and the people Kurt Russell wants to kill. Last copy on the shelf, too; though I bet they have boxes of them in the back.


A melodramatic pile of excrement about white guilt and the boredom that comes with being an overprivileged brat. I love every damn second of this movie


Do I have to explain myself for this one? No, no I don't.


Have the Rifftrax, but never had the DVD. After watching this, I was sorely reminded that I need to start doing sit-ups again.

And one CD!


Been meaning to check out the Ramones for a while. Figured, hey, couldn't hurt. I guess they're okay? They're okay, I guess.

So, what do you think about Borders closing down? and/or how are you profiting from their misfortune?

[Artie]

You probably would have gotten a better deal buying all those things from Amazon.   Which is one of the reasons Boarders is in liquidation.

For anyone looking to get deals from Boarders - Liquidation companies raise the prices of items before they mark them down.  Obviously they can't do that with the books, but everything else is fair game.

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

I am sad to see them go.  I love book stores, just being in them is fun for me.  the digital age books means itll be harder to just walk into a place and peruse through a bunch of random books.  For fiction its still pretty easy to find what your looking for but for nonficiton, i always found going to the store was more effective to find quality. 

[k1]

So, what do you think about Borders closing down? and/or how are you profiting from their misfortune?

I've gotta work a double shift doing inventory next Sunday night at Borders.  :sigh: So I guess I'm profiting that way.

[CrowTeeRobot]

One thing I really loved doing on a day off was going in to Borders, grabbing a few graphic novels and sitting in one of those big leather armchairs to read through them. The staff there is really quite nice and never bothers me, as I'll usually purchase a book or two in addition to just reading. Doing this really allowed for me to read more comics and stories than I could afford, and now that this option is going to be gone, I'm seriously bummed out. Sure you can rant and rave about Amazon being cheaper and easier, but for me as a person who truly enjoys reading (not just comics, but novels and non-fiction too.) there's nothing quite like picking up a book and leafing through it before you buy it, especially a comic book.

[Thrifty]

I'll miss Borders.  It was always a great place to just hang out and read for a while before I went home and bought the same books for less at Amazon.

[Dim of the Yard]

I was a huge fan of Borders, perhaps unreasonably so. Any time I was in a mall of some kind with a Borders, I had to stop in, just to kill time and see what was new. It was my default "hunt for a Christmas gift" place. I am going to legitimately miss it.

[Thrashalla]

They had the better of the rewards programs, that's for sure - every month or so that 40% coupon would hit and I would be ecstatic. However, Borders and B&N are essentially the same in terms of selection and I've always had equal access.

Honestly, though...I say good ridden to the big name stores and I hope B&N follow. Amazon and Mysterious Galaxy (local genre fiction specialist store) cover 90% of my reading needs and with the direction that publishing seems to be going, I welcome my new digital overlords with open arms.

[Doctor Who?]

I don't want books that I have to download and that can be pulled off of the website at a moment's notice.  I like having books that i can touch and turn the pages of and that never go way.  Give me paper over a computer screen any day.

[Thrashalla]

Agreed...I still love the physical thing, but as someone who likes to read 800+ page Epic Fantasy on a regular basis, the portability aspect is soooooo sweet. I still do buy the physical copies, but I usually do so after I read the ebook and decide that it deserves a spot on the shelf...kind of like what I used to say I did when I pirated music only for realz.

[Dim of the Yard]

I love physical books, as well. I also tend to bounce around from subject to subject and can rarely focus on just one work at a time. So many books, so little time, you know? Having these unfinished works on my Kindle, all in one place, is a lot easier than having them strewn about my room. This means, especially, that I'm a lot more likely to finish the work, instead of forgetting that I had read it in the first place. (That's actually how I lost my library card. I used it as a bookmark in a giant book that I swore up and down I was going to finish.)

And besides, I'm more prone to leaving books under the bed at night, which is something I don't do with my Kindle. This has led to one of my favorite books getting peed on by a not-yet-housebroken puppy. I was less than thrilled when I found out about this.

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

So i went raiding a borders last night.  Books were between 10% and 30% off depending on what secction you were in.  While doing my shopping i had a smart phone opened to the kindle store.  It was thus i learned exactly why they are going out of business.  even at these discounted prices (20% for the history section where i was doing most of my shopping) Kindle was beating the prices by no less than 2 dollars. 

[MrTorso]

Well digital files should be cheaper way less overhead.  I don't fully embrace digital books because there is no standard file format. Some books come out for the kindle while others on the nook and now even Google Books is going to get exclusives.  If there was the book equivalent of a MP3 where multiple devices can freely use the files I might buy more.  Anyway the number 1 reason Borders is closing is because they are mostly run by idiots and they never could recognize that.  I was a manager for them until I got "restructured" out.  They took away 25% of my pay but I was still doing 99% of the same work. They put a guy over me that knew nothing about running a music department and when I complained I was told by the general manager that "You don't need to know the job to manage the job". That is why Borders is closing.  Also that same manager was so weak, that one time she told me to do something I flat out said no and that I won't do that and that it was stupid. There were no repercussions from that. None.

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

Well Kindle does have like 60 percent of the market share from what i have heard (not a reliable source). 

[Thrifty]

I can't go to liquidation sales.  They're too depressing.

Back in the 90s, I railed against Borders for coming in and forcing some smalltime local stores (Volume II and Encore Books).   The teenage me from the 1990s would be rejoicing at this news.  The 30 year old me from now is saddened by the thought of the people losing their jobs.