Color me not surprised

[megwrites]

This article about Borders' fiscal woes comes as the least surprising thing I've read all year.

I've been saying for a while that Borders is sliding down the path of fail. It says something that I'd rather spend two bucks and forty minutes to get from Queens to Union Square in Manhattan (the location of the nearest Barnes and Noble) than go to a Borders that is, technically speaking, within walking distance of my house. By car, it's 4 minutes with good traffic.

Barnes and Noble just has more books and better books. The customer service is about the same, which is to say there is none. The staff at both places are more than happy to ignore any problems and questions you may have. Good luck getting someone who actually knows about books, because I don't think the people at either place actually read what they sell. Or, read at all. The prices are more or less the same. So it comes down to selection, especially genre selection for me.

Every Borders I've been to (and I've been to Borders in Tennessee, Florida, New York, Kentucky, Connecticut, and Massachusetts) has had the most irrational, utterly inexplicable, completely stupid SF/F section. And it seems other sections follow suit.

Borders' stocks writers I've never heard of, but don't have the popular series I'm willing to pay full price for. During my most recent trip there last week - the Boy and I wandered in to kill time while waiting for a movie at Atlas Park theatres - they had five copies of The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (not a bad book, mind you, but it's from 1997). They had none of the books on my "Buy As Soon As You See List". Didn't find Acacia by David Anthony Durham. Didn't find Green by Jay Lake. Didn't find Norse Code by Greg Van Eekhout. Didn't find Blue Diablo by Anne Aguirre. Didn't find Scott Lynch's rip-roaring Lies of Locke Lamora or Red Seas Under Red Skies (though, to be fair, I already own those). Didn't find Liz Williams' Detective Inspector Chen novels. Found neither hide nor hair of such authors as Nalo Hopkinson or Tobias Buckell, who are on that list as well.

But there were five copies of that one book from 1997, oh yeah.

Heck, I didn't spot C.E. Murphy's The Pretender's Crown (which is a rather addictive, intoxicating book, I might add) at Borders until that *same* visit. A book that came out in April.

Why do I know this? Because the release date for said book - which I was ready to buy hot off the presses - was scheduled for two days after my birthday. When I was guaranteed to have extra money in my pocket and intent to spend in the first degree. I checked the Borders first. Nada. Then I checked Barnes & Noble. Sure as anything, there it was. Displayed in an easy to find way, right at eye level. Saying, "Come on, Meg, you know we were made for each other. Give the nice man your money so we can go home together."

Okay, so it didn't actually say that. Because it's a book. It doesn't talk.

But guess which store keeps getting my money and which doesn't?

Comments

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

I have the same issue with Borders. Plus I hate the coupon thing -- why don't they just make it part of the rewards card so I don't have to print it out? I KNOW they have a copy behind the counter too because every time I've used it, they tear up mine and use their master copy. Between the hassle of getting my printer set up and buying printer ink (which wouldn't be just for this, but I don't really print much) and remembering the coupon, it's a lot easier to pay the $25 to Barnes & Noble. And then some of the cashiers get upset when I ask them just to use their coupon, even after I've given them the rewards card; it's like they don't want you to be shopping there.

Although for a while, Borders had the better graphic novel section; it still maybe does a bit, though they've also cut back on a lot. Their YA section seems to be going pretty strong, even if they have entire shelves of Twilight books (it's good that kids are reading, I guess but does it have to be that book?). Aside from those genres, though, I agree they often have very strange selection of what's on the shelves and what new releases they'll stock. Apparently, they won't stock new authors (like Cindy Pon), but they also won't stock good selling authors too (like Bujold's 4th Sharing Knife book when it first came out -- I'm assuming she sells well, racefail aside), so I don't know what books they carry.

The one closest to me has taken out nearly all their CD and DVD selection, which was a good third of the store. They've moved a lot of the shelves around too, but it's mostly just more space and not more books.

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

Aww, dude, I looked for Cindy Pon's "The Silver Phoenix" and couldn't find it and I really want to get my hands on that book because it sounds so awesome. *sigh*. Just gonna have to make another run into Manhattan when I have some money.

The one here is Queens near me also rearranged their section and now they have two chair in the SF/F section -- in front of the shelves. So if someone is sitting there, everything from L-P authors are off limits to you unless you want to climb over a complete stranger to get them.

And they wonder why they're failing.

[handyhunter.livejournal.com]

My B&N has Pon's Silver Phoenix in stock (or had anyway; I haven't checked in a while).

Yeah. In mine, they had the New Releases and A-F or whatever letter shelves of the mystery section backed right up against the customer service counter, so it almost looked like you weren't supposed to browse through those shelves or you'd be in their way.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

Borders has been obviously circling the drain for a few years.

[aberrant1.livejournal.com]

Sadly, the two options in Panama City are Books-a-Million and Borders.
I haven't been to the Borders (it's a long way out of my way, and I generally avoid going to the shopping center it's in). But it can't be worse than Books-a-Million, which I swear knows I'm coming and pulls the books I'm looking for off the shelf before I get there. I have NEVER found the book I was looking for in the PC Books-a-Million. And I wasn't looking for obscure books. I wouldn't even bother trying to find an obscure book there.

I would love to have a Barnes & Noble. A big independent used bookstore like the one I still go to every time I visit my family would be awesome, but at least a Barnes & Noble. It'll never happen, but I can dream.

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

When I lived close to a Borders--the last time was 2002--all their branches in my area (Northern Virginia) had a vastly better selection than B&N, especially when it came to non-fiction. I like a lot of niche stuff where history is concerned, for instance, and they generally had the more specialized works I was looking for.

But the last few times I've been in that area and hit a Borders, that was no longer the case. It's amazing to me that they can keep the same amount of shelf space and yet have fewer books...or at least it seems that way with the vastly reduced selection. About the only advantage Borders has over B&N for me now is that Borders carries the Loeb Classical Library...but those are easy enough to get online, too.