Now I'm not sure what we are even disagreeing on. We both agree that there are free sources of up to date news information, right? So why would someone pay for something that is out-of-date when they can get it for free elsewhere? Again, personal preference. Some people like the look, feel of a real paper in their hands (even if it isn't absolutely up to date). To others it doesn't matter if it is on a screen or printed.

Anyone been to the NW Expressway location. I keep getting emails announcing this great clearance sale, but haven't been by. Are they really marking stuff down cheap or just 5-15%?

My wife went to the one at (Austin) Southpark Meadows, it was at 20% last week. No coupons or such accepted at any of the stores that have closing sales.

Anyone been to the NW Expressway location. I keep getting emails announcing this great clearance sale, but haven't been by. Are they really marking stuff down cheap or just 5-15%?

Not sure what the current banner states (will try to run by after I get off work and post)

The norm for these type of bankruptcy closing sales is to start off with (up to) 10% off and each succeeding week, the "up to" percentage increases. The advantage to getting in early is the selection will be greater and can probably find what you want (but not discounted very much, if at all...might actually be higher). If previous ones are indicators, the inventory is sold to the "liquidator" company and even though the signage, uniforms, badges etc still say the name of the former store, they are no longer employees of that store and are working for the liquidator now. Unless if it is a prepriced item from the manufacturer, the liquidator will often raise the prices back to "suggested" retail and then take the percentage off from it. They will deny it but I know for a fact it happened with K-Mart and one of the box box office supply places that closed their south side store. You could find the exact same item (regular price) at the location that was still open for cheaper than the percent off liquidation price.

It can work very well, when K-Mart did it (and everything was "up to" 10% off, the parking lot was near capacity). Perceived bargain.

Let the buyer beware.

No way these stores should be going out of business. Their comfy chairs are
always full and people are always piling around the magazine rack and
there's hardly any wait to get thru the cash register line. It seems just
perfect!

Before we know it, the libraries will start giving books away for free
and B&N will really be in big trouble

:))

All the remaining Borders Book Stores are now liquidating. Very sad to see this. Borders had been a regular Sunday afternoon haunt for the wife and I for years. Never been a big fan of B&N, but I guess we will have to check them out. Most recently we had been driving to the last store in the area (in Norman) to read and have a coffee. I'd wait for the 30-40% coupon via email and buy a book or two a month. Sad loss.

Busines Model 1: Large retail space with scores of parking spaces in a busy commercial corridor, stocked wall-to-wall with books, beautiful tenant finish, fully climate-controlled with music and good lighting, and customers strolling the aisles. Refreshments provided by Starbucks. Employees are busy selling invididual books which are taken by customers.
Business Model 2: Large warehouse space with minimal employee parking in a remote industrial park, stocked floor-to-ceiling with books, minimal HVAC, lighting and space improvements, and forklifts roam the aisles. Refreshments provided by a bank of vending machines. Employees are busy filling individual orders for books which are mailed to customers.
Business Model 3: Server farms storing books in digital form, available for unassisted purchase, payment and immediate downloading to customers who read them on e-readers.

Which business model failed first? Is another business model failing?

(Sounds creepy in an Orwellian, "2001: A Space Odyssey"-sort of way, doesn't it?)

Busines Model 1: Large retail space with scores of parking spaces in a busy commercial corridor, stocked wall-to-wall with books, beautiful tenant finish, fully climate-controlled with music and good lighting, and customers strolling the aisles. Refreshments provided by Starbucks. Employees are busy selling invididual books which are taken by customers.
Business Model 2: Large warehouse space with minimal employee parking in a remote industrial park, stocked floor-to-ceiling with books, minimal HVAC, lighting and space improvements, and forklifts roam the aisles. Refreshments provided by a bank of vending machines. Employees are busy filling individual orders for books which are mailed to customers.
Business Model 3: Server farms storing books in digital form, available for unassisted purchase, payment and immediate downloading to customers who read them on e-readers.

Which business model failed first? Is another business model failing?

(Sounds creepy in an Orwellian, "2001: A Space Odyssey"-sort of way, doesn't it?)

Business model 2.5: Selling physical books online through the internet for a lower price than B&N or Borders. The "warehouse" is your garage or small storage building and you have thousands of people doing the same thing.

This combined with business model 3 and 2(New books directly from Amazon) is what killed business model 1.

And yet I remember when we lamented the fact that Borders and Barnes and Noble were eliminating local book stores like Bollinger's, which served local food. I refused to shop at either one until Bollinger's closed. I guess this is evolution at work in retail.

Those of you lamenting the loss of Borders should instead be celebrating the continued survival of Full Circle Books and Best of Books and patronizing them as much as possible.

I stopped by the Norman Borders last week. I was really surprised that with items as much as 40% off the items were still more expensive than they should be. I Red Laser'd several items and found that online shops were always cheaper, and nearby local shops like Best Buy often were too. It's no wonder they are going under... Their operating costs must be enormous. Guess they never modernized.

Borders had been a regular Sunday afternoon haunt for the wife and I for years.

They sure did scare people away. :-O

Sad. The wife and I often spent a Sunday afternoon drinking a coffee and reading books/magazines at the NW EXP location. Guess we'll go to Norman from now on.

If that is all you and other people did and didn't buy anything other than coffee, it's easy to understand why they're closing.

If that is all you and other people did and didn't buy anything other than coffee, it's easy to understand why they're closing.

Yeah, I think it was intended to review the material in order to buy them. Its a shame how people take advantage of reading without paying....ultimately the one of the main causes of closing businesses.

If that is all you and other people did and didn't buy anything other than coffee, it's easy to understand why they're closing.

Actually, I find it hard to see you understanding anything with a comment like that. Lets see, they put in a coffee bar and tons of seating and welcome people in to spend as much time as they want reading. Yeah, sounds like I learned a sneaky way to work the system. Didn't have anything to do with their prices being too high, expenses being too high and online ordering and ebook options - nope it was people coming in on Sundays to read and buy with a coupon.

I just ran a report on my Quickbooks..... from 2004-now I spend $1,673.71 on book purchases at Borders alone. How much did you spend keeping them afloat?

Those of you lamenting the loss of Borders should instead be celebrating the continued survival of Full Circle Books and Best of Books and patronizing them as much as possible.

The "buy local" movement is long overdue, in all industries!

I think maybe someone mis-translated the phrase: "Controlling the Borders" . . .
Frankly, when it comes to bookstores, I still miss Bolliger's (on N. May).

(We will all know that The Mayans were right when Full Circle closes on Dec. 21, 2012.)

Brian: Maybe a bumpersticker saying "Support Your Local Bookstore" is far overdue.
(Like that $6.00 Library fine I still owe . . .)

I've tried local bookstores in the past and they didn't suit me as they never had up-to-date software and computer books. Haven't tried in awhile though.

I spent a lot of time at that Borders in Norman, and always wished it was closer to campus. With just B&N by the highway I wonder if they would build a central location by OU that sells more in the way of textbooks with a larger coffee shop/study area.

I still miss Rector's and they closed when Urban Renewal began decimating downtown.

It looks like Party Galaxy is moving in to the old Borders store on NW Expressway. Then again they could be renting it out for a Halloween store being that the old Circuit City has been taken by Golds.

It was awesome how they grabbed up all that real estate in the boom and then shut down all those local bookstores and now this....it's funny, and something a lot of the boneheads in OKC leadership dont understand and never will until it's way too late.... hey! lets build a convention center and attach a hotel to it, subsidized by tax payers!!!! I know they aren't necessary or sustainable but oh well...when it doesn't work we can just make another thread like this one!!!!

It was awesome how they grabbed up all that real estate in the boom and then shut down all those local bookstores and now this....it's funny, and something a lot of the boneheads in OKC leadership dont understand and never will until it's way too late.... hey! lets build a convention center and attach a hotel to it, subsidized by tax payers!!!! I know they aren't necessary or sustainable but oh well...when it doesn't work we can just make another thread like this one!!!!

Excuse me? What does the closing of a book store have to do with OKC leadership and building a convention center? That's a stretch to put it mildly.

Borders business model, the reason they are done-for (not all the stories you hear in the MSM about e-books and the like) is similar to the things the Chamber of (some types of) Commerce, Cornett, etc... are all about. Not a stretch if you can take a second to think about it.

Borders business model, the reason they are done-for (not all the stories you hear in the MSM about e-books and the like) is similar to the things the Chamber of (some types of) Commerce, Cornett, etc... are all about. Not a stretch if you can take a second to think about it.

Some never give up. Thought for sure post election blues would have healed by now.

Borders business model, the reason they are done-for (not all the stories you hear in the MSM about e-books and the like) is similar to the things the Chamber of (some types of) Commerce, Cornett, etc... are all about. Not a stretch if you can take a second to think about it.

I took a second and still see absolutely no connection.

first as tragedy, then as farce

first as tragedy, then as farce

That could be a good campaign slogan.

I took a second and still see absolutely no connection.

I voted for Cornett twice and while I am no longer a Cornett fan and would have a hard time voting for him ever again (over many issues), I am not seeing the connection here either. Especially how it related to Borders closing? That other post just confudeled me.
:dontgetit:calvin2:

The business model that failed isn't books, it was financing rapid expansion with cheap and easy credit, then when credit is not as cheap or easy to get you have a huge amount of debt service coming due all the time that you can't pay on. There is very little difference between the house flipper types that ran into that same problem and multi-national corporations that failed doing that. All of them got drunk with cheap and easy credit.

I was at the Barnes & Noble at The Arboretum today and it was packed in there and there were many buying books. That location is one of the few in Austin that carries many of the professional books that I need, I bought a 3DS Max 2012 book and was looking at some of the new building code books.