Comments on: Borders Group Appoints New CEO from Outside Bookseller Industry. George L. Jones Will Not Copycat Chief Rival Barnes & Noble to Gain Market Share. What Is It Going to Take to Drive Customers Past B&N and into Borders?

by: Held over from Friday - World Class Ebooks

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 06:08:35 +0000

[…] Lynne Scanlon is a person who has worked at a high-level in the book trade, and her views on developments at the US bookseller chain Borders are therefore better informed than most. And there are quite a few other ideas in the comments section. […]

by: Steve

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:25:00 +0000

I’ve worked at Borders Group Corporate office and it amazes me the turnover in CEOs this company has had. Is it really that hard to run this company? When I was there, it was a cluster of VPs reporting to VPs and Presidents reporting to Presidents. I’ve never seen so many layers of management reporting to peers. Lately, it seems you can’t get good customer service in Borders. I’d much rather give $ to independents who can actually service me.

by: Daniel

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 22:59:14 +0000

I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100% regarding Borders…but it’s just my opinion, which could be wrong

by: Tim Coates

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 19:22:56 +0000

Always the same answer: more books, many more books and a lovely place to come to; the competition is Abe and Amazon- who don’t have a place you can go, sit and keep warm. That’s what Borders can do better.

You can tell Mr Jones all those things for nothing. Improving bookstores has always been the same job. Tim

by: James Levine

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:14:54 +0000

I concur.

I believe customers such as myself originally migrated from the library to the book stores because:

We read slow enough to warrant holding on to the book a bit longer
We don’t want the only copy to be “on-loan” when we arrive
We want a more inspiring, and less dingy atmosphere.

On that last note, we don’t want to smell noxious fumes, we don’t want to overhear beligerent mumblings, and god forbid we need a public restroom, we don’t want to get TB. I think it’s wonderfully charitable to get the homeless out of the cold; that is just as much of the community spirit that a book store ought to have. I just find it interesting, however, that the reasons why you won’t find me inspired at the local library, are now issues which the retailers now have to address.

by: Bobbi

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 00:03:05 +0000

I am appalled by the dirty, slovenly people hanging out in Barnes & Noble: sleeping, snoring, using pages of books and magazines as tissues. IB&N has become like a bus stop, though bus stops are cleaner. I’ve seen horrible things. I don’t feel safe. Indigents use the public rest rooms. I don’t feel anything I am buying is sterile. I’m paying prices for a book that tattered and earmarked…used. Every book should be sold as “used.” I wait on line forever and the cashiers try and up-sell me when I finally get to the register. I am always walking over kids and their play toys. To me the whole experience of thumbing through a book in order to decide whether I want to purchase it, has fallen by the wayside.

by: Lynne

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 12:14:30 +0000

Would someone please think LIBRARY!

In the Wednesday, August 2, 2006 edition of The New York Times, columnist Samuel G. Freedman lauded a woman named Alison Link, the Director of Leisure Education for Tully House, a half-way house in Newark, New Jersey, for introducing convicts to a local Barnes & Noble. “The idea of going to a bookstore first came up nearly three years ago during a discussion of leisure. Someone…said he wanted to do research. Ms. Link thought of the Barnes & Noble bookstore 15 minutes west of Tully House.”

For the entire column see On Education/Samuel G. Freeman, “Tasting Freedom’s Simple Joys in Barnes & Noble,” Metro Section, page B7.

by: David Worsley

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 11:39:03 +0000

There must be tremendous pressure on Amazon from investors to lose the free shipping as they seem to be hemorrhaging money (even for Amazon).

I work for an independent. So if Jeff Bezos becomes a grocery store magnate, I’ll shed no tears for him. It may level the playing field and frankly, given that Amazon gave most of their PAC money to Bush last November, that should seal the deal for an engaged citizen.

by: The Curmudgeon

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 15:27:18 +0000

The curmudgeon buys well over $1000.00 worth of books most years. 75% of these are bought through Amazon.com for new books, Amazon Marketplace or Bookfinder.com for used and hard to find books, and special prepublication offers or speciality sites for certain speciality books. The reason is simple- PRICE! Price, lack of sales tax, and low or no shipping costs are my basic reason. There is no reason for me to go to Borders or B&N or the local independent other than those rare occasions when I want to look at a book before I buy it. Other reasons to go would be for gift certificates, last minute gifts and browsing for sales on coffee table items Even with discounts on some items, they are no match for Internet buying. I buy mostly paperbacks for space reasons. The several hundred dollars I save each year make it worth shopping on-line. In addition, I have an Amazon.com credit card which gives me over $100.00/year in gift certificates that I can apply to my purchases. If I were younger and on the prowl, I would certainly hang out in one of the big chains to meet women who are able to speak.

by: Lynne

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 14:26:25 +0000

Click on over here for some comments about my post! Brandy Wine Books And Lorra Laven, author of Secrets of an All-Boys' Prep School, let me know that the day after I posted about Borders, so did Publishers Weekly in their "Talk Back Tuesday" column:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6355982.html?nid=2286