I visited Borders shortly after 6:00 pm on Friday, July 22.
Today's event: Liquidation! And everything's on sale!
But prepare for a bit of a wait....
Hope you don't need to look something up on the computer...
...or get a drink or snack while you shop.
Kids and Bargain sections are a mess...
...and the History section is being plundered.
It was a madhouse and I didn't buy anything since Kids and Teens books were only 10% off. I considered myself lucky just to get out of the overcrowded lot! Even Christmas crowds were never like this at Borders.
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What a sad day! Soon, this picture will be a familiar sight. Borders will be closing all of their stores! If you've got gift cards, my advice is to spend them NOW. Don't delay. Spend them before Friday when they start liquidating stores and they may all be closed as early as September.
My husband was at our local store today and noticed that they've pulled the gift cards off the sale floor. So we checked the website tonight, too. You can't purchase a gift card at Borders.com now either.
I've got existing orders at Borders.com for pre-orders due out mid-September and late October. I called the customer service number this afternoon, got frustrated with the clearly outsourced employee who talked of the "reorganization" but didn't seem to know the latest news. Then, when I spoke with a manager, I asked, "Are you local? Are you in the States?" She replied, "Our headquarters is in Ann Arbor, Michigan." I said, "But where are you?" She continued, "Your call was directed to Borders Customer Service in the Philippines." She told me that existing orders at Borders.com will be fulfilled. I sure hope so. I didn't use a credit card, I used a gift card, and therefore, I could lose money. She assured me that Borders.com would continue to do business. She made it sound like Borders would remain as an online-only book retailer. After seeing that you can't purchase a gift card online, however, I have my doubts about that!
Excuse me while I now run off to try to spend over $100.00 in gift cards I just purchased last month. Sure, I could look at this as "Christmas in July" and look forward to seeing piles of boxes delivered by Tom the mail carrier, but this is no happy day. While I shop at both Borders and Barnes & Noble, I've always found Borders easier to browse. And they generally have a better, bigger selection.
Hope this isn't the beginning of the end for brick-and-mortar bookstores!
