Where I express much sadness.

[rogueslayer452]

Borders is undergoing liquidation.

By the end of September the entire company will be out of business, and Borders will cease to exist forever.

This upsets me greatly like you don't even know. It's just shocking to me how this even happened. Borders is like the only bookstore I have always loved going to. For years I've gone there, hung out there, browsed and sometimes just sat on the floor to just read. Hell, Harry Potter midnight release parties happened there, for goodness sakes! And now it's going away forever. What am I supposed to do now? Where am I supposed to go for books? This is highly distressing, mostly because this is feels like, the end of the world for book lovers, in a sense. Sure, there are other bookstores, but none of them will compare to how amazing Borders has always been.

First the ending of an era for Harry Potter, and now Borders. WHAT IS HAPPENING?!! D: D: D:

Comments

This is going to be an unpopular opinion

[rawthorne.livejournal.com]

I was reading an article about this recently and someone made the point that Borders and other chain bookstores once sounded the death-knell for many small corner stores that simply couldn't compete with the Starbucks-ization of book selling. Now they're simply reaching the end of their popularity.

Borders owes its success to a business model that made sense for a period in American and Western society, both economically and in terms of social habits. To put things in perspective: not buying paper books doesn't have to be the end of literature or the end or readership, but could actually mark the beginning of a 'green era' where we no longer cut trees left and right for mass consumption only to throw them away when we have to move/decide we need the shelf space.

I'll admit my bias: I'm a great proponent of ebooks, both because they are cheaper and they cut out the middleman -- printing presses, like plastic producers, should become a thing of the past if we make any pretense towards eco-friendly living.

Re: This is going to be an unpopular opinion

[lodessa.livejournal.com]

While I understand that ebooks are more eco-friendly (although... throwing out books... really? I would never do that. They always go to a used book store or the library)... I strongly dislike reading books on a screen and love the whole physical book experience. Not to mention that changing to an e-model binds us to a protected file that we can no longer lend to friends.

It is of course a moot point because physical books are doomed.