http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/10/barnes-noble-cfo-joseph-lombardi-resigns-.html
Went into the Calabasas, CA store Tuesday night and noticed that, before closing, the only place to pay for book/other purchases was through the cashier in the coffee/food area.
Was at the store in Woodland Hills last night and noticed that, like Borders, B and N is staking a fair amount of store space on selling to perceived "hot" consumers. In B and N's case, it's children (whereas Borders in its latter phase was feverish to sell TWILIGHT and other teen-goth romances).
Guessing that B and N will announce more store closings in 2012.
[UPDATE 10/26/11: I was prescient. The B and N at the Westside Pavilion in West L.A. will close by the end of this year: http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2011/10/barnes_noble_westside_pav.php]
Showing posts with label bankruptcy of Borders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bankruptcy of Borders. Show all posts
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
And down goes Borders....
http://www.deadline.com/2011/07/final-chapter-for-borders-bookstores/
Once again, I remember how, in the late 90s, there was the deep, loud fear that the independent bookstore would be killed by the superchains i.e. Borders and Barnes & Noble.
It didn't happen.
At least Borders, at its best, did offer some degree of diversity in its store-to-store choices as well as community service/outreach through poetry and other readings (locally i.e. Ron Dvorkin's reading at the Canoga Park/Woodland Hills branch).
Now, all that's left of the "superstore" chains is Barnes & Noble--which is feverishly splashing resources onto its Kindle e-reader. Plus it's making the huge mistakes Borders did in its later years--standardizing its product (meaning you get more or less the same selection of books in each store, with reduction in availability of certain genres) and chasing the "hot" temporary trend (i.e. the shelves devoted to teen "paranormal romance") at the expense of the everday customer.
And this isn't to let independent stores off the hook, either. It doesn't do them any good to gloat and forever moan about the discount-priced Amazon.com (currently whining about not wanting to charge California state tax) as a designated demon.
With the absence of Borders, one hopes independent stores will flourish on a larger playing field.
And it would be great to see, for example, the resurrection of the old Acres of Books used-book superstore in Long Beach.
Once again, I remember how, in the late 90s, there was the deep, loud fear that the independent bookstore would be killed by the superchains i.e. Borders and Barnes & Noble.
It didn't happen.
At least Borders, at its best, did offer some degree of diversity in its store-to-store choices as well as community service/outreach through poetry and other readings (locally i.e. Ron Dvorkin's reading at the Canoga Park/Woodland Hills branch).
Now, all that's left of the "superstore" chains is Barnes & Noble--which is feverishly splashing resources onto its Kindle e-reader. Plus it's making the huge mistakes Borders did in its later years--standardizing its product (meaning you get more or less the same selection of books in each store, with reduction in availability of certain genres) and chasing the "hot" temporary trend (i.e. the shelves devoted to teen "paranormal romance") at the expense of the everday customer.
And this isn't to let independent stores off the hook, either. It doesn't do them any good to gloat and forever moan about the discount-priced Amazon.com (currently whining about not wanting to charge California state tax) as a designated demon.
With the absence of Borders, one hopes independent stores will flourish on a larger playing field.
And it would be great to see, for example, the resurrection of the old Acres of Books used-book superstore in Long Beach.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Borders will close 200 stores--a list and a post-mortem.
http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/st_borders0216_20110216.html
What I'm about to write wouldn't have passed the Literary Correctness test in, say, the year 2000.
Back in the day, no one would have imagined the corporate book chains of Borders and Barnes and Noble (then underpricing many independent stores out of business) would face the store-closings and bankruptcy filings of one-decade-plus-later.
And, to give one example, you certainly couldn't go into the now-quite-dead Midnight Special Bookstore in Santa Monica and carry a bag from either of the Independence-Slaughtering Corporate Behemoths.
In terms of my experience, there were (and are) good and bad Borders stores. Some of them had better stocking of nonbestsellers than others; some also had a fairly deep selection of CDs and DVDs (until the Great Culling of 2008-09). And some stores had more friendly, helpful staff members than others (who will be nameless, but employed certain young-and-sometimes-older people who thought of customers as something to be endured).
As poetry gatherings in L.A. are concerned, three of the earliest readings I look back on fondly were those taking place in Westwood, Santa Monica and Glendale. The Westwood and Santa Monica stores are now closed; the Glendale store made the dreaded List of 200.
In reading the death list, I was disappointed to discover the imminent closing of the store at the Pike in downtown Long Beach--they have a Wednesday reading and actually stock local icons such as Gerald Locklin.
Also, I was semi-surprised that the Northridge Mall store (which has suffered from sometimes below-par staff and is more run-down than it used to be) was spared. It gets a fair amount of shoppers, but I was guessing that Borders would have pulled the trigger to get out of their lease with the mall owners.
It will be interesting to find out--for all the media whining and moaning about imminent death of brick-and-mortar bookstores and overemphasizing the sales figures of e-books--whether independent and second-hand stores will again gain the deserved traction they lost in the past decade.
What I'm about to write wouldn't have passed the Literary Correctness test in, say, the year 2000.
Back in the day, no one would have imagined the corporate book chains of Borders and Barnes and Noble (then underpricing many independent stores out of business) would face the store-closings and bankruptcy filings of one-decade-plus-later.
And, to give one example, you certainly couldn't go into the now-quite-dead Midnight Special Bookstore in Santa Monica and carry a bag from either of the Independence-Slaughtering Corporate Behemoths.
In terms of my experience, there were (and are) good and bad Borders stores. Some of them had better stocking of nonbestsellers than others; some also had a fairly deep selection of CDs and DVDs (until the Great Culling of 2008-09). And some stores had more friendly, helpful staff members than others (who will be nameless, but employed certain young-and-sometimes-older people who thought of customers as something to be endured).
As poetry gatherings in L.A. are concerned, three of the earliest readings I look back on fondly were those taking place in Westwood, Santa Monica and Glendale. The Westwood and Santa Monica stores are now closed; the Glendale store made the dreaded List of 200.
In reading the death list, I was disappointed to discover the imminent closing of the store at the Pike in downtown Long Beach--they have a Wednesday reading and actually stock local icons such as Gerald Locklin.
Also, I was semi-surprised that the Northridge Mall store (which has suffered from sometimes below-par staff and is more run-down than it used to be) was spared. It gets a fair amount of shoppers, but I was guessing that Borders would have pulled the trigger to get out of their lease with the mall owners.
It will be interesting to find out--for all the media whining and moaning about imminent death of brick-and-mortar bookstores and overemphasizing the sales figures of e-books--whether independent and second-hand stores will again gain the deserved traction they lost in the past decade.
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