The BORDERS Buckhead Mega-Store Is Closing!!! (Atlanta, Lenox: sale, buyers, college)

[billl]

Originally Posted by 912

Borders did file bankruptcy recently. You can thank Amazon.com for killing it.

Barnes and Noble is surviving. Businesses that aren't willing to adapt to shifting markets don't last long.

Blockbuster is another example.

[MathmanMathman]

That shopping center must be hurting. The Circuit City closed (is there a new tenant?), the Marble Slab closed, and now Borders. Even Jos A Bank is doing highly creative discounts so that can't be a good sign for that branch store. I would have thought that of all their stores the Buckhead Borders would have survived so it doesn't look good for the company.

[Bizurko]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooo

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by Mattie

I was never a Borders fan, but am a member of Barnes and Noble. I love that store, and the one at Northpoint is always packed.

Count me among those who can't see themselves replacing books with ebooks. And, the biggest complaints I see among ebook users online is that the price of some new releases is sometimes higher than the hardcover copy. If publishing houses stop putting out books, what will happen to our libraries?

Libraries might live on as community centers providing literacy assistance and other tutoring, job searching, and other social services for the community. We might cling to them but like a bookstore, they are fast approaching obsolescence. The analogy above with Blockbuster was a good one. They were an initial big success as they went with the technology but didn't change as the technology changed.

Right now, university libraries are trying to be access points for data, study hall and group meeting locales, and cultural centers. But really, we'll soon no longer need a university library other than to archive older material and even much of that can be be scanned and put on-line.

[RandyWatson13]

Very sad but I rarely bought at Borders over B&N.

[waronxmas]

The news of this sucks for two reason:

1. It's the closest bookstore AND coffee shop to my building. I'm just a block away, so I am there on near daily basis even though the coffee shop is Seattle's Best (blech! but it'll do in a pinch)

2. Probably the major factor in Borders deciding to close this location was the fact that (and this is just a guess from going to this location frequently) about 85% of the people who walk through the doors never purchased a thing. The staff (who I feel the worst for) are super nice and never really bothered anyone about loitering unless it got out of hand.

But, people took advantage of that. The would go in, grab a stack of books, plop down in the cafe, and read for hours. Then proceed to leave said stack of books on the table and walk out with not even so much as purchasing a book light. It's hard to justify to corporate to stay open in this economy when traffic is high but sales are low. That's just the way the economic cookie crumbles unfortunately.

However I am with the consensus here: it's only a matter of time before all chain bookstores suffer the same fate. For the mass marketed "books" out there, it's much easier and cheaper for the casual reader to purchase a book on Amazon or an eBook.

The only book stores I see even having a chance in the coming years are those that cater to a specific genre and are independently owned.

[Alley01]

Originally Posted by Mattie

I was never a Borders fan, but am a member of Barnes and Noble. I love that store, and the one at Northpoint is always packed.

Count me among those who can't see themselves replacing books with ebooks. And, the biggest complaints I see among ebook users online is that the price of some new releases is sometimes higher than the hardcover copy. If publishing houses stop putting out books, what will happen to our libraries?

I think libraries are here to stay, but the amount of books on shelves will change. I don't think they will ever go away completely and am surprised that you have found Kindle or Nook versions that are more expensive than the paper copies. It is usually the other way around. I have never had a Kindle copy cost more than the paper book. I have gone to this Border's store when visiting my sister and it is very nice but I usually see a ton of people reading the books there and not buying them. So, I guess I am not surprised that they would close it. Most seemed to treat it as a library and not a bookstore IMO.

[ATL_II_DMV]

Forget the Borders on Buckhead. I can buy a book online

To be honest, forget all Borders, Starbucks, and other hang out spots for the modern metro

This is how I felt when the 559 burned down or when The Compound closed temorarily

[NYbyWAYofGA]

Ok, there's no need for me to cry over spilled milk. With that said, wouldn't it be nice if a small bookstore/cafe opened in the retail portion of the Ritz-Carlton Residences right across the street? Also, with so many businesses closing in that strip mall, wouldn't it be nice if that site was redeveloped into something more like the Dick's Sporting Goods development right across Wieuca Road? Nevermind me, I'm just dreaming here....

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Probably the major factor in Borders deciding to close this location was the fact that (and this is just a guess from going to this location frequently) about 85% of the people who walk through the doors never purchased a thing. The staff (who I feel the worst for) are super nice and never really bothered anyone about loitering unless it got out of hand.

But, people took advantage of that. The would go in, grab a stack of books, plop down in the cafe, and read for hours. Then proceed to leave said stack of books on the table and walk out with not even so much as purchasing a book light. It's hard to justify to corporate to stay open in this economy when traffic is high but sales are low.

You're exactly right. If the people who treated this Borders as their free social lounge had been paying customers that place would have made a fortune. You can't operate a business where the "customers" aren't buying anything.