With the recent news regarding the closure of Borders bookstores, many bibliophiles credit the eReader with the downfall of the popular chain. In our tiny city in upstate NY, we are faced with the closure of our Borders bookstore AND the upcoming closure of a truly unique, brick and mortar bookshop in our downtown area. This leaves our community with just Walmart, Sam’s Club and Target when looking for books. Excellent. NOT. AdkGadgetGirl is very passionate about supporting small, locally owned businesses and was crushed when books (possibly her first true love) became much more difficult to get. Also, many people who buy books on an eReader, continue to buy hard copy books. Since the cost is the same, people are trending toward using their iPads for other applications and the occasional ebook. However, apps remain the biggest draw on the iPad, indicating that books aren’t the main reason people are buying iPads. Kindles however, remain primarily used for books. So although this has hurt the book industry, Borders demise was not brought down by eReaders alone. There are several contributing factors. One of the biggest being Amazon.com. Since Amazon is based online and doesn’t have to pay for the mall rent or building space such as Borders, their overhead is lower and they can charge less for books. So, many people browse a bookstore and then purchase online. It’s sad, for sure. Additionally, when Borders made the decision to carry CDs and DVDs, it turned out to be a foolish one, from a business perspective.
A former Borders employee and Engadget commenter says,
“Borders made a big commitment to selling CDs & DVDs — large sections of the stores were devoted to this content in the 90s and early 00s. New stores were designed and built in an effort to give multimedia a large segment of the store space.
“In the end, Borders has failed because [its] stores got too big and the demand for CDs and DVDs dropped — there was just no way to pay the bills.”
So ultimately, it’s just very unfortunate for all of us, but we can’t place all of the blame on eReaders. And since most of us love technology, it’s not going to go away. We just need to learn how to adapt. How about including some sort of digital end in our bookstores? It’s working for Barnes and Noble. They have Nook kiosks in their stores and employees there to assist. Bookstores are ultimately READING stores-the format should be adaptable.
If you still have a small locally owned bookstore in your area, please do support it. And as always, READ, READ, READ! Check out the 3/50 Project on how to keep small, local businesses up and running.
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