There is no place to buy new books anywhere within my radius, and I don’t live in Timbuktu. I live right outside a major city, suburbs with millions of people, and there are practically no bookstores. Three B&N’s are hanging on, but who knows if they will disappear the way the huge double decker one did at Columbus Circle, NY, the B&N that drove Shakespeare & Co. out of business. (Although the snottiness of the bookmen didn’t help) I can find several used bookstores within fairly long driving distances, long in suburb terms, 20 or 30 minutes. Two of these stores are paperback exchanges. A third one recently closed. There is a very odd bookstore in the historical town of Mount Holly, but it doesn’t
borders Archive
Borders has closed. This is a shame and a travesty. In an era when there is more being published and more of the population is literate than ever before, why is a bookstore closing? One issue that has risen out of this is something that I alluded to in an earlier article on eBooks. Namely: what happens to your content when the content provider closes up shop? Thankfully, in this case, Borders had been transitioning its eBook clients from their servers to Kobos, so they weren’t left high and dry with no access to their purchases. Will all eBook providers be this kind when they, as with the vast majority of businesses, either close up shop or give up on one technology and move to a
“Book stores employ a very special class of condescending nerd… “If bookstores fall, America will be inundated with a wandering snarky underclass of unemployable mock purveyors of useless and arcane esoterica.” The Daily Show on Comedy Central usually targets politicians, pop culture, movie stars, and finds hilarious behaviors to out and bring to the forefront. Either by Jon Stewart, or by one of his many ‘correspondents’, a point will be made about something highly ridiculous and whatever the subject be, it gets its comeuppance. So imagine my surprise when Stewart and John Hodgman, one of his regular cohorts, begin discussing the downfall of Borders and the future of bookstores! Stewart begins the segment as though the audience needs to be informed of what ‘books’ are. “Books. You may know them as the thing Amazon tells you, you might be interested in, when you are buying DVDs. But did you know that books
My name is Janet Geddis, and I am proud to be an independent bookseller. I started my journey over three years ago and, despite some unbelievable downs and even more miraculous ups, I am soon expanding my business. Since 2009, Avid Bookshop has been an online and events-based bookselling business, but this summer we’re moving into our first retail storefront. I couldn’t be more excited. For people who don’t know how well many indies are doing, my enthusiasm may seem unfounded in the wake of news about the big boxes’ struggle. But independent bookselling is alive and well, and the American Booksellers Association’s membership has actually increased in the last couple of years. As the dinosaurs struggle to adapt, more adept independently-owned bookstore owners are
By Joe Waynick I never expected this. I thought Borders would emerge from bankruptcy a stronger company after shedding most of its debts and excess overhead. That’s what most large companies do. But now they say they’re going to liquidate all 400 of their retail stores. Indie booksellers shouldn’t be too quick to celebrate the demise of this large and formidable competitor. Think about all of the suppliers who are stuck with unpaid invoices, or at best, only receive pennies on the dollar. The website DealB% reported ”When it filed for bankruptcy protection in February, Borders owed $272 million to its 30 largest unsecured creditors, including Penguin Group USA, Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, Random House, HarperCollins and Macmillan.” Furthermore, Yahoo Finance reports the
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