Of Interest to Me…and Jezmon…and APril…and Ms. Love…and others
We knew this was coming. And by “we” I mean, me. I knew it was coming because, honestly, this country just doesn’t read enough to support TWO national book retailer chains. I doubt, honestly, that in this day and age the country can support a single national book retail, but in any event it seems that Barnes and Noble may attempt to buy Borders.
I don’t think it would shock anyone, really, as Borders stock sits at a value of 1/3 of that of B&N’s. Plus, anyone familiar with Borders…like its employees…will tell you that over the years there has been a slow march towards making a Borders store look a lot like a B&N store.
With the likes of Amazon, and to a lesser extent, used book dealers who operate online like ABE and Alibris, both B&N and Borders have some serious competition to deal with and, probably, can’t fend off that competition on their own.
Of course, with the surging price of gas, I wonder how solvent online book retailers will be in the next few years as sending one copy of a mass market Huck Finn to a residential address will become a lot less tolerable (read: cost effective) then sending several pallets to one destination…
My guess is that we’ll see the B&N/Borders Hydra start to wilt a bit, and a resurgence in local one off, and small chains (such as, Cody’s) in populated urban and suburban areas will be seen. And I think that in major metropolitan area bookstores, especially, will continue to thrive. I know, for instance, in San Francisco you can spit in just about any direction and hit a handful of used book shops. Something is keeping them all open.
But I feel bad for the mid-West, and rural areas in general. Maybe I’m wrong, but even having a small B&N or Borders out in the vast expanse of, say, Montana is better then nothing. And my guess is that where those small outlets of the national chains can, at least, survive due to their connection to the larger corporate dragon, a small independent store might not be able to.
Kate Nash - Mouthwash
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May 22nd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Yeah…I heard rumors of a “merger” a little while ago…Something about using our store front and B&Ns inventory system, which is apparently better than ours somehow. I want to work at Powell’s - the GIANT bookstore in Portland…of course, I’d have to live in Portland first.
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
>__> I too, would like to live in Portland… Normalinauts, please do not be shy with donations, if you too would like to see APrilhead, myself, Wednesday and Son No.1 in Portland… that button is versatile <__<
jk T_T
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Haha, gilgrim, haha. :p
I’m always afraid that one day there won’t be any more book stores. : ( i don’t like it
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:19 am
Yeah I saw something about this posted in the break room a couple of days ago.
Living in a rural area myself, it is true that people are fairly appreciative to have us up here. Of course there are those that complain that there isn’t another store on this side of the pass, and those who complain that there is no competitor store either. Honestly though I don’t see our area as being able to reasonably support another store what with the poorness and idiocy of this area. As proof I would submit the followiong ACTUAL conversation overheard by myself:
Teen girl 1: Quiet in the library
Teen girl 2: This isn’t a library
Teen girl 1: There are a lot of books here. It’s a library stupid.
As you can see our country and our future is doomed if people can’t tell the difference between a bookstore (attached to a mall mind you) and library.
May 23rd, 2008 at 7:30 am
Here’s a conversation I actually had at my store, decidedly NOT in a rural area…
Customer: Do you have any books about the black plague for kids?
Kilian: Is this for a report? I ask as I see his eight year old daughter.
Customer: Yes.
Kilian: You might do better at a library, honestly. We don’t have a lot of stuff in general on the black plague and I doubt we have anything in the kids section.
Customer: Oh, you think we should go to a library?
Why would anyone think to take a kid to a library to do a report? I mean, that’s just crazy!
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I don’t think B&N and Borders will merge. It doesn’t seem practical as B&N isn’t doing too hot right now either. It would be nice to see more used book stores around here though. There used to be more when I was a kid, and then they all closed. Maybe eventually we’ll have to shop at Wal Mart for books. Sad Sad Sad