And another thing…

And if it does, what could anyone do about it anyway? Technology moves on and we find new ways to live.

At least part of the demise was largely sanctioned by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission when they allowed Waterstones to take over Ottakers, stamping out competition to the HMV empire.

How on earth are we actually meant to find books on the high street when all that’s left is Waterstones and WH Smiths, which barely deserves to be called a bookseller. It’s not like they even both stocking what would once have been standard fare – trying to find some of the classics or influential texts such as the Wealth of Nations is nigh on impossible.

Borders stores were generally too small to be a place to sell books, CDs and DVDs. In America I believe that they are considerably bigger. Waterstones and HMV continue to do well by having big stores selling essentially one product. They can provide the discounts and range that internet stores do with the added bonus of being somewhere you can browse.

Huge stores and small, quirky independents selling music, film or books will survive. Medium-sized or large shops will fail.

I’ll be sad to see Borders go but I think the store had went backwards in recent years. The removal of the self-search computers made finding a specific title harder than it should have been. It was still a lovely venue for a browse but not the best for a quick purchase on the way for the train.

I always wanted to be able to do a stock check of the Glasgow from the website, do you have this book, yes, I’ll be there in five to buy it. The website seemed to be quite separate from the stores though.

I think it’s only going to get worse for the high street book sellers with the growth of the Kindle and it’s ilk, download a sample chapter and purchase on device, no need for a store at all.

Waterstone’s itself has been a significant factor in the decline of high-street bookselling – it has aggressively pursued a market dominance strategy (it has swallowed up so many smaller chains), and used its clout to skew supply lines against smaller independent outfits working on relatively small-scale stock turnaround.

Combine this with the tax/rate breaks charity shops receive, then the downfall of high-street bookshops and second-hand bookshops (ie not just ‘big business’ stores) starts to look like a self-inflicted wound.

Perhaps its demise is down to the fact that many school leavers can barely read…

(I’ve always supported my local public library which I consider to be a valuable service. No more: it recently underwent a facelift. It now has a flatscreen TV and about a dozen computers. When I remarked on the amount of space still available for books I was told that there wouldn’t be more because a) the shelving had to be spaced such that people bending down wouldn’t bump each other (said with a straight face) and b) the users didn’t really want books (why are they still pretending then that it’s a library?))

I’ve never felt that Borders was a serious bookshop. There is (was?) an independent bookseller in the centre of Glasgow (JH Smith?) – that’s what I call a proper bookshop: the staff seemed to be book lovers and the shelves weren’t littered with the latest chick lit/blockbuster/mis lit.

It the Labour government to blame for making such a mess of the economy. Not Amazon.

Of the immediate past 3 books I bought: the first was from a very local art materials shop pretending to have a 24 hr turnaround: the V & A (who gave a small discount): and the most recent from Amazon, on which I think I paid for two transatlantic postages, was in a hurry and followed a link from someone who had been helpful.

I am ashamed of myself, but the local arts supply shop may improve when their staff get over working in a shop.

I hope that in such diversity browsable bookshops survive.

The market and its marketing have diversified enormously.

Just remembered that some fiends’ son has made a fair living from selling second hand books at festivals and other unlikley places for a fee years now.

He had enough of working in a massive and truly horrible Char X Rd bookseller, with whose then owner my late father had a minor ruck after the war.

Bit like the BA Authority, the culture of behaving as though abused is difficult to be rid of it seems.

I wish the Borders staff well; I have always good service in the Buchanan St branch, but can’t get worked up about the demise of the chain the way I did when John Smith’s closed in St Vincent St – that really was the end of a long era.

Just to stick with the west of Scotland, the good indies are doing fine, and a few, like the Milngavie bookshop, are truly excellent. Those shops will continue to do well if the publishers and distributors treat them right. A big ‘if’ of course.

It would be a shame if borders was to go. However, I do think that they would only have themselves to blame.

In America, barnes and noble realised that as their online business went up, their shop sales went down – although numbers in the shop stayed the same. So people went to the shop and then ordered online where it was cheaper. But they still actually wanted to go to the shop.

Borders should have better engineered and marketed its online presence.

@Edwin – Of course, it was John Smith in St Vincent Street! A bookshop which organised its fiction in alphabetical order by publisher instead of by genre (as the ghastly WH Snith does).

I’ve been buying my books recently on Amazon, partly to buy second hand, but nothing compares to browsing in a ‘real’ bookshop (except browsing in a library and the joy of finding a new book by a favourite author – although my local library is now classifying by genre). What is it – can’t people spell or do they not mind what trash they read as long as it’s horror/sci-fi/family saga or whatever?

I think (for the first, and possibly for the last time) I agree with QT at 3.41pm).

I think the selling of Borders was a bad idea, and I said so at the time (the US Borders flogged off UK Borders)..
It will be a real shame. Part of our Yule-tide well, not ritual obviously, but I guess one of the things we do each year and has become a habit is to go into Borders in Glasgow after we’re done shopping all our gifts, peruse the books and get a few as last-minute gifts when other ideas had run out then grab a coffee in the in-store starbucks before heading down to the station and getting home…

No more Borders would really suck, especially since it’s a lovely building, and the waterstones in glasgow is tiny and pathetic.
Maybe the US chain could be persuaded to have them back for a lot less than they made by flogging them….
Doubt it though.

I love books, mainly non-fiction, particularly biographies. If I know exactly what I want and am not due to be in town, I might well order it on the web. But nothing beats spending an hour or two browsing the shelves; it’s true to say that some of my greatest delights in books have been discovered by chance. I have shelves and shelves of books at home; audio books, Kindle? Pah, give me the real thing, my books are my friends. I hope the independents survive and thrive; I will also admit to a real affection for Hatchards on Piccadilly which, although owned by Waterstones, has retained it’s individuality. I have never been attracted by Borders, but the passing of any bookshop is sad.

Personally Tom, I’m lamenting the demise of threshers, far more jobs at stake. The staff blame discounting by supermarkets as well.

So as an act of solidarity Labour should call for a boycott of Sainsbururys.

Wibble.

Waterstones is an excellent bookstore. the staff are helpful and knowledgeable.

WH Smith concentrates on junk literature, chocolate , old fashioned calendars and not much else . It is understaffed and overcrowded with pure rubbish. There is not enough space to browse either.

Don’t you think that reading proper novels is not as voracious as it once was. Just the same as new films that come out every year, there are too many dreadfully written books too?

I love books , preferably non fiction, nothing beats a good travel book or biography.

Poor old dumb cluttered /empty brained Britain, we have lost many libraries/ bookshops/ wine stores/ coffee sellers/ reliable high street names.

Amazon will never be able to replicate the smell on line of a fusty old book or the crisp clean new book scent, will they?

Jay, John Smiths had an antiquarian dept on the top floor run by a nice chap called Mr Mackenzie. I bought several nice books there, including a lovely signed copy of Ronald Searle’s Merry England for £7, and an inscribed copy of Galsworthy’s Soames and the Flag (read it, read it) for a tenner.

In the 80s he had for sale a watercolour draft by Peter Blake for the Sergeant Pepper cover, with various wee [encil drawings by Blake included – I just missed buying the lot for £450; would fetch upwards of 40 grand today!

Not the sort of bargain you pick up in Borders.

I used to love the Borders in Oxford St (London). It was massive, and on the top floor it had a cafe with lovely big coffees and sofas and armchairs, when such things were only seen on the set of Friends. And it was open until 11 which was unheard of in those days. I used to go in after work, or before I was meeting friends and could spend hours there. You could sit and read any book, and didn’t even have to buy it! (Probably not very clever in retrospect). Then kids came along and browsing bookshops was a luxury I no longer had, and then we moved out of London altogether. Now buy almost all books on Amazon. So another thing to feel mildly guilty about. Borders RIP. No online bookshop can give the thrill of discovering a book you never knew existed, which you hold in your hands and know you just have to have.

I saw Monica Lewinsky in said Borders on Oxford Street doing a book signing. It was absolute chaos. They had to shut the whole road in the end. You don’t get that online.

Tom Off Topic

I want to nominate you for an award.

For running a politucal blog, keeping it interedting, and not blogging about any of the main political stories as they are damaging to you party.

Very clever Tom and very well done.

‘It was absolute chaos. They had to shut the whole road in the end. You don’t get that online.’

True Cathy. Katie Price did a signing the other week in the WH Smiths here; what seemed like thousands of women and girls came to see her. One weeping chid clutching a signed copy of the book was asked on television ‘what does Katie mean to you?’ – ‘Everything’ said the child.

Not much different from Sean Connery signings really – except there it’s ageing men and women doing the weeping!

My elder daughter has much enjoyed some of the Potter launch performances. Her local bookshop economised last time it seemed which reduced the fun, though.

If the booktrade has room for drama, theatres may have a role as premises become more expensive again.

There’s a principle at stake here.

Should we support a resource, often local, despite it being less sensitive to consumer needs than another source?

Emotion and the possible avoidance of monopoly can be said to be in its favour.

Cost can be said to be against.

We, as a nation, support failed businesses if they are agricultural. We don’t need the food. So perhaps that is an example of how powerful emotion can be.

Edwin – shame that this thread wasn’t running a couple of years ago when a friend of mine (who lives in Glasgow) was trying to clear out her late husband’s books. He’d been an avid collector for many years and there were thousands, including some first editions. Since they covered a wide range of subjects she spent ages sourcing potential recipients. (I think I’d have been inclined to put a notice in the paper inviting the public round to help themselves!)

When I worked in Glasgow city centre I used to spend most lunchtimes in Smiths. It had a lovely atmosphere and I’m sad that it’s gone.

Jay, what I did once with unwanted books was throw a giveaway party at which friends could come and pick up books for free, have a cup of tea, and donate what they felt like to Amnesty.

I now donate the results of my periodic purges to Shelter in Gt Western Rd. Always check on Abebooks first for value! I found a very scarce book in a friend’s bathroom being used as a cludgie book – he fell over when I told him it was worth three figures.

If Borders have a sale I am barred from going alas.

What no one seems to have mentioned is the terrific range of magazines and periodicals available – in the Charing Cross Road branch, for instance, literally hundreds of titles.
Where else could you pick up a single copy of German Cosmopolitan, for instance? Or Photo or VSD from France? Or from the USA, Tattoo Life, Motorcycle Classics, The American Spectator or Key West Magazine? Among many others.
You’re never going to get that service from Amazon.
It’s a sad day for magazine addicts.

Proper bookshops have two advantages over onliners. The ability to browse into areas that the Amazon algorithms do not think of and the ability to buy buy books NOW and read them on the bus home. For those reasons, some will survive albeit not as many as I would like to see.

5,500 people campaign to keep BORDERS GLASGOW open