Borders Files for Bankruptcy

New York Times website ^ | February 16, 2011 | Michael J. de la Merced

[LdSentinal]

Blockbuster Video already filed for bankruptcy. September 2010.

[InvisibleChurch]

Complain to management. See if you can get a liberal fired. Give then a dose of reality.

that won't hurt the kid, he's got his ticket to Bonaroo

[stayathomemom]

I remember when (mid-late ‘70’s) they were just a smallish store in Ann Arbor just a half block from U of M’s Diag on State St. They expanded into the space next door, or upstairs, or both and I thought “What a neat store!” This was before they moved to their current location around the corner in the old Jacobson’s department store.

[MrB]

Yeah, we all have the innate truth wired into us, and reminders make us “uncomfortable” if we’re unrepentent.

That discomfort has a purpose, to drive you to repentence.

Leftists/homos don’t WANT to repent, so they’d rather have all reminders of their guilt removed from society.

Sorry, lefties - you could be ALONE on a featureless island, and your conscience would still be with you, making you uncomfortable, driving you to repent.

[battlecry]

Then again, having a property storefront might have required the to pay sales tax in most states.

[bcsco]

I bought a Sony EReader in January. I love it. I picked it because of price, $99 for the pocket edition, and the fact that it handles the epub format. That’s the fastest growing eReader format. The Kindle and Nook readers have their own format and don’t support that format.

This is important because books purchased have DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection. A library such as Calibre can convert one format to another, but not when the file includes DRM. This means, you’ll have to buy books from vendors who support the format for your device, and if you also want to read the book on another device (say a smartphone) for whatever reason, you may not be able to. Epub being the fastest growing file format, you may want to consider devices that are compatible.

I had 6 books I’d purchased for my Palm Pilot from www.eReader.com. EReader.com is part of Barnes & Noble (as is Fictionwise), and they support the pdb file format that the Palm uses. Well, I couldn’t read those books on my Sony (the Palm finally died and that’s why the Sony). It took me 1 1/2 months but I finally got around the DRM issue (yes, there’s a way to do it, but not for the faint of heart or those without PC smarts). I was able to strip the DRM and now can read those books on my Sony. No, I’m not going to market them, just want to read them since I bought them.

Long story short, be knowledgeable about the product before you buy.

[Publius Valerius]

I've never understood the business plan where you let people hang around your stores reading for free.

You're trying to drive traffic. If more people are coming into the store and looking around and drinking coffee, it's more likely that they are going to buy something, even if on impulse.

[InvisibleChurch]

i’ve saved hundreds of $$$ by getting a cup of joe and reading all the 12$ british rockandroll mags for free

[Old Grumpy]

” . . . then used a pinkie to sweep the Bible into the bag with the others.”

At least the flaming queen didn’t get too many of his stinking cooties on the Bible.”

[stayathomemom]

I went with the Kindle and really wished that I could check out e-books from the library with it, but you can’t. I think I could read them on my iPhone though. One big reason I like the Kindle is the font size. The largest is huge and two font sizes larger than some of the other readers I looked at. I ended up giving my first Kindle to my mother. At 93, she’s almost deaf and her eyesight is not good. Having a font that is big enough for her to read has propped the window open on a world that was closing on her.

[tioga]

OMG.........what a funny story.

[oh8eleven]

If more people are coming into the store and looking around and drinking coffee, it's more likely that they are going to buy something
Evidently not ... see also Post 28

[COBOL2Java]

Borders - the Air America of bookstores...

[bcsco]

The Sony reader has 3 font sizes, and the largest is quite large. I don’t use the enhanced font, but it’s available through a button on the console.

[drubyfive]

that won't hurt the kid, he's got his ticket to Bonaroo

Bonnaroo headliners this year: Arcade Fire, Buffalo Springfield, Eminem, Lil' Wayne, The Black Keys, Widespread Panic. Full lineup here.

[WaterBoard]

My last two Borders experience. 1) ME: Do you have Sarah Palin's new book, it was released several days ago and I don't see it? Borders Employee: Why would you want that? 2) ME: Do you have the infamous "New Yorker" magazine with Barack and Michelle on the cover. Borders Employee: No, we took them off the floor because they were offensive to some customers. ME: Well, do you have any in the back. Borders Employee: No. ME: Thinks they destroyed them instead of selling them.

[DManA]

I love Half Price Books. Got a couple in the Twin Cities. I think they’re a private company so I have no idea how successful they are.

[SoothingDave]

I just got the Kobo reader that Borders sells. It supports the epub format, so where I am not locked into buying ebooks from them.

[relictele]

Fantastic newsstand although they disappointed me of late in reducing the availability/number of UK papers. Yes the UK papers have web sites but their hard copy editions are still unbeatable for content and design.

I preferred the semi-chaos of Borders to the annoying look-at-this-not-that displays at B&N.

Maybe it’s coincidence but all the Borders I visit are packed with customers.

[colinhester]

Smart phones/tablets have downloadable ebook readres - both Amazon Kindle and Google Books. I bought a Kindle for Christmas and it has not even been out of the box - use only smart phone.