Free Republic

A number of well-known brands disappeared in the last year in large part due to economic forces. Many of them were in the retail industry, led by Circuit City. ATA and Aloha airlines are gone. Gateway Computers has effectively disappeared after being bought by Acer. It still has a website, but the brand is no longer marketed. As the recession deepens and stretches out quarter after quarter, more companies will close or will shut divisions. More brands will disappear because their parents firms fold or can no longer afford to support them. Other brands will be obliterated by mergers. 24/7...

As the recession deepens, economic forces continue to drive consolidation in the retail industry, debt comes due and increasingly discerning consumers buckle down on discretionary spending, an analysis by 24/7 Wall Street predicts that a number of well-known brands are likely to disappear before the end of 2010. To determine which brands are most likely at risk, 24/7 Wall Street examined 100 large brands it believes are in trouble and, for each, looked at public financial records, sales information, analyses from industry experts, the competitive landscape in each’s industry and the likelihood that a brand could be sold off in...

Bloomberg - link only

EXCLUSIVE: A book celebrating suicide bombers has been found in the Arizona desert just north of the U.S.- Mexican border, authorities tell Fox News.

Borders delays book payments in financial dealsBorders has been delaying payments to book publishers in signs that it may be one of the first major victims of e-books. Early reports from Publishers Marketplace on Friday said it was putting off the payments to help refinance its debt but also wasn't certain that the plan would be effective. It might have to break its existing credit deals early into 2011 after facing a "liquidity shortfall," it said. The publishers weren't named by Borders when asked by the Wall Street Journal, but Hachette and Sourcebooks were named as two of those told...

There is some irony in this report from the SFChronicle about Borders book sellers chain. They have decided not to carry the April-May issue of Free Inquiry because it contains the controversial drawings of the Prophet Muhammad that sent Muslims into such a tizzy a few months ago. Here is Borders Bookseller's reason for this ban: "For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority," Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham said Wednesday. I guess we have one more western corporation/media outlet running...

September 16, 2004 – The Borders bookstore employees union (Note From Webmaster: Here is a copy of google cache displaying this page as it seems to have been taken offline.) online forum is an amazing look into the minds of booksellers. One section of the forum is specifically devoted to a discussion of how Borders employees deliberately hide copies of Unfit for Command or accidentally damage the books so they must be returned. One poster noted: “We’re ‘finding’ that most of the few copies we’re getting are damaged and need to be sent back, so sad. Too bad Bushies! Regnery...

This conversation took place today at the Springfield, PA Borders Books:Metrosexual Clerk: Can I help you?Libertarian4Bush: Yes, I have a couple questions. First, do you have any of the books on this list [a relative's pre-college reading list], or are there any similar books you could recommend?Metrosexual Clerk (without even looking): Well, we have Bill Clinton's new book.Libertarian4Bush: No no - I mean, fiction is fine, but I'm looking for actual AUTHORS.Metrosexual Clerk : Well, obviously, you have an agenda.Libertarian4Bush: No, I would just rather not be subjected to yours.Metrosexual Clerk : What was your other question?Libertarian4Bush: Well, I was...

Entertainer banned after Bush remark Presidential 'chicken legs' joke leads bookstore's customers to complain ---------- Apparently, it's become un-American--or at least highly controversial--for a woman to publicly say that the president of the United States' body is less than perfect. A Baltimore acoustic artist has been banned from playing the Fredericksburg Borders Books & Music store--apparently because she made fun of President Bush's legs between songs in her show Friday night at Central Park. Julia Rose, a singer-songwriter and a fitness advocate who often shows audiences her six-pack abs, told a Fredericksburg Borders audience Friday: "George Bush has chicken legs....