Struggling bookseller Borders Group (NYSE: BGP) has opened up a new concept store as part of its plan to re-invent itself. According to the USA Today, the new prototype store in Michigan contains "a digital center where you can download music or books, burn CDs, research family histories, print pictures and order leather-bound books crammed with family photos - with help from clerks who know how to do those sorts of things and won't embarrass you if you don't."A few problems: Why would anyone go to a store to download music or books or burn CDs when you can do that at home for less money? Leather-bound books filled with family photos? That hardly seems like the kind of thing that will turn around this flailing behemoth.
The problem for Borders has been that it's having a hard time competing with Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) which is more convenient, less expensive, and offers a broader selections. Features like "Search inside" are further depleting the few advantages that brick and mortar bookstores have left.
I wouldn't bet on Borders' transformation. The company's isn't coming from a position of strength: Borders is a book retailer that's been watching its relevance decline for years and now it needs to essentially change its business model to compete.
Reinventions rarely work, and I wouldn't expect the Borders one to succeed. If the strategy is simply to offer customers more services that they can get for less money on the internet, I'd say this is a turnaround that's destined to fail.
Borders plans to open 13 more concept stores this year.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
2-19-2008 @ 4:29PM
louisdpdl said...
Boy is that pathetic that people won't bother to read anymore.
2-18-2008 @ 2:09PM
mary said...
Who says people don't read anymore? I read 326 books last year and most of my friends probably read over a 100 books. We just don't buy new books. We use the library, trade books with each other and go to used books stores. $25-30 for a new books is a lot.
2-18-2008 @ 3:48PM
gibels said...
While I clearly see that brick-and-mortar bookstores will change in the future as technology alters the world of books and reading, I'm glad that I've lived most of my life in the pre-computer era. I have on occasion bought a book online, but I find shopping for books online a sensory-deprived activity. The tactile kind, I mean. I want to hold a book in my hand and see live the dustjacket and the inner pages and illustrations. I happily browse for hours in my local Borders, discovering many subjects and products I would never encounter otherwise. After an hour of sitting at a computer screen, I'm exhausted and want connection with the real world. A real bookstore satisfies in ways a virtual store cannot.
2-19-2008 @ 1:13AM
Nikki said...
I love bookstores, as a matter of fact I went 40 minutes out of my way to Border's just a few weeks ago. But I got a book with less than 130 pages and they wanted 23 dollars for it. That's insane. I can get that same book on Amazon.com for a lot less. I can get more books and I don't even have to pay for shipping. I had two books in my hand and a magazine at Borders but I had to put one of the books back because it would've cost me over 70 bucks. I agree that the experience at Border's is half of what makes it fun, but once you get knocked over with sticker shock that excitement fades... Fast.
2-18-2008 @ 8:53PM
Kyla said...
I agree with gibels and the other bibliophiles; there's something about feeling a book, thumbing through it, browsing a bookstore that just cannot be replicated by on-line shopping or electronic books. I LIKE being literate, actually reading a book versus listening to it on tape/cd/dvd/whatever.
2-18-2008 @ 2:13PM
Tight Scotswoman said...
AS A PERSON WHO READS A LOT, I BUY BOOKS AT DISCOUNT PRICES.
I CHECK WALMART, AMAZON, DAEDALUS AND BARGAIN BOOKS (EDWARDRHAMILTON.COM) AND I PAY AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE.
AT BARGAIN BOOKS AND DAEDALUS, I MAY BE BUYING OVER-RUNS, OVERSTOCKS, OR BOOKS THAT ARE OLDER, BUT I SAVE A LOT.
WHY PAY $22 TO $35 FOR A BOOK WHEN I CAN GET IT FOR $2.00 TO $6.00?
MOST OF THESE SELLERS HAVE A FLAT RATE NO MATTER HOW MANY YOU BUY OF IF YOU BUY OVER $25.00 THE SHIPPING IS FREE.
BARNES & NOBLE AND BORDER'S BOOKSTORES WILL HAVE TO FIND OTHER WAYS TO GET PEOPLE TO BUY FROM THEM.
BROWSING IN A BOOK STORE COSTS ME $60-$80 A MONTH FOR 3-4 BOOKS.
ONLINE I CAN GET 6 TO 10 BOOKS PLUS FREE SHIPPING, NO HASSLES FOR FINDING A PLACE TO PARK AND I CAN AVOID THE CROWDS.
2-18-2008 @ 2:19PM
Tight Scotswoman said...
AS A PERSON WHO IS DISABLED, ON A FIXED, LIMITED INCOME, I ORDER BOOKS ONLINE AND HAVE THEM DELIVERED TO MY DOOR.
I LIVE IN A VERY SMALL RURAL COMMUNITY AND THE CLOSEST LIBRARY IS 15 MILES AWAY.
THE COST OF STARTING MY VEHICLE, DRIVING 15 MILES FOR ONE OR TWO BOOKS, ONLY TO HAVE TO RETURN THEM IN TWO WEEKS ISN'T COST EFFECTIVE.
I MAY HAVE TOO MANY BOOKS, BUT I WILL BE ABLE TO READ THEM AGAIN YEARS LATER.
I ONLY WISH I COULD READ MORE BOOKS. I USED TO READ 2-3 BOOKS A WEEK WHEN I WAS WORKING, NOW I AM LUCKY TO GET THRU ONE BOOK A WEEK.
THERE IS NO WAY I CAN SIT AND READ A 600 TO 900 PAGE BOOK IN ONE WEEK. I BLAME THE COMPUTER AND TELEVISION PROGRAMS AND MY WEAKNESS TO TURN OFF BOTH OF THESE MACHINES.
THEY ARE HANDY THOUGH, ARE THEY NOT?
2-18-2008 @ 2:21PM
JOhn said...
I won't shop at Borders. I can't find anything there. Worse, they don't allow you to check the computer for the book I am looking for. Any company that doesn't put the computer with the inventory out front available to the customers and not without an employee doing the search doesn't get my business.
2-18-2008 @ 2:55PM
Susan said...
I have never been in a Borders that didn't have computers where I could use them.
2-18-2008 @ 5:12PM
Patti said...
John -
At the Borders Express where I used to work, the computer used to look up information for the customers was the SAME computer used for daily corporate e-mail communications. Can you imagine how messed up that system might be if everyone had access to it? Perhaps that's why you're unable to look up the information yourself in your store. I strongly suspect it's not cost effective to install new computer systems in small stores that don't have the same sales volumes (or profit margins) as the larger stores do.
On the one hand ... I prefer the larger Borders' system where I can access the information myself.
On the other hand ... my old Borders Express (at the mall) gives me great service and actually carries a better selection of what my daughters like to read.
And, yes, I buy books via Amazon as well.
2-18-2008 @ 2:24PM
Carol said...
Digital isn't the same, you can't take your computer to bed with you, or to the bathroom, or to the Dr's office, etc, There is nothing like having that book in your hands. Yes they are expensive, but the writers have to make a living too. We can't have them quit writing.
2-18-2008 @ 2:23PM
Mike said...
Apparently Zac Bissonette cannot read; the Borders website clearly shows that it is partnered with Amazon, not competing with Amazon.
Thanks for providing a chuckle through your idiocy.
2-18-2008 @ 4:39PM
Karine said...
Exactly !!!! i ordered from Amzon and had the option to pick up my book at Borders locally ...
It seems that the author of this article is not well informed ...
2-18-2008 @ 2:33PM
Lindy2 said...
There Are 3 Adult readers and 4 children readers
in our home. Our vavorate place is Barnes & Noble,
WHY,because they have couches & chairs, Lectures
by writers. Best of all,you can get coffee,Tea.and sit and deside your choices. THINK.
2-18-2008 @ 2:25PM
Yellerdawgs said...
I read a lot less when I have to spend $25 on a new book. I don't think I've been in a book store more than 5 times since someone introduced me to paperbackswap.com. It's a free book trade. All you pay for is the shipping to send your books.
2-18-2008 @ 2:35PM
Michele said...
There are portable DVD players, portable CD players, why not put all books on CDs and develop portable players to read and be read to for adults and kids to follow along with the narrator? Great for travelling, great for silent reading time in school with a headset, great for reading in bed too! And the best perk is that the CDs don't take up nearly as much space as books and they don't get mildewy or broken spines! Pass them down generation to generation or book club member to member because they last forever! You rent movies on DVD, why not rent books on CD? Someone is not making money on this idea who is it? Borders!
2-18-2008 @ 2:38PM
Scott Mount said...
I have every hardback book that I have ever bought, and I love and cherish books. I can't imagine a world that doesn't offer books, and in which people don't read. Unfortunately, it seems many today can't read well enough to enjoy books, the emphasis is on math and science in schools and history, reading and writing, literature of all types seem to be ignored. When books cease to exist, so too will our intellectuals, and our movies that have that particularly creative bent.
2-18-2008 @ 3:52PM
Jake said...
Hell, I meet 5 or 6 times a week with my bookie. There's a need for more bookmakers in America these days!!
2-18-2008 @ 2:53PM
Michelle said...
I'd really hate to see Borders go out of business. I love that place. I think it's really ridiculous that Barnes & Noble charges you for their rewards program. Borders might not be as fancy, but they give me 30% off coupons each week for free!
2-18-2008 @ 4:39PM
Ruthie said...
I love to read actual books, and I would hate to see ANY bookstore close its doors. I shop online a lot if I can't find the book in the store, but I just LOVE to browse the bookstore!
Yes, the Borders "rewards" program is free and you get email coupons; however the Barnes & Nobles rewards program offers you a discount on every purchase (10% in-store) - AND - you can use that same discount in the Starbucks that is attached to the b&n- woo hoo. I more than make up the $25 annual membership fee because I shop there for gifts too (not just for myself). Don't forget the bargain books they have in the store!! BTY, I have both Borders and B&N rewards - so I get A LOT of coupons in my email - but I shop more at b&n because of the discount.