SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I was surprised that I haven't read anything about this in any of my groups on here at GR, so please forgive the crosspost on the topic.

All Borders bookstores (over 350) will be closing - some as early as this Friday 7/22/2011.

If you've got Borders store credit or gift cards, plan to use them right away - apparently they will only be honoring them until the end of July.

More business-related info on the closing can be found here: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releas...

My local Borders was among the first wave of closures so I had a while to get used to it. Still stinks though. I worked there long ago.

All the Australian Borders have closed this year. Unfortunately they had also bought a local chain which has now had to close most of its stores too.

I'm just hoping that this move will prop up the independents that we have left. It can only mean good things for B&N, since they've been struggling too.

I remember the big bookstore that I went to was called Library Limited, which was like a Border with Border like tags on the backs of their books. About little over ten years ago the store I don't if it was bought by Borders or not was turned into a Borders, then moved locations, ever since the place where it was before has been empty the last time I checked. I miss that place.

All the UK Borders shops closed two years ago.

I hate to see any bookstore close!

Two of my favorite used bookstores here in Omaha closed within the past two years. One of them I had been a cusotmer of for 18 years!

And now this!

That's really sad news. I loved going to the Borders stores. I hope that Barnes and Noble doesn't go out of business as well. Shopping for books online just isn't the same, although I am a big Amazon consumer.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "That's really sad news. I loved going to the Borders stores. I hope that Barnes and Noble doesn't go out of business as well. Shopping for books online just isn't the same, although I am a big Ama..."

Well put! I feel the same way.

My fear is that this closing of the bookstores will cause publishers to stop publishing books in the paper medium. I might be premature about that, and I hope that I am wrong.

Lady Danielle - I don't think the adoption rate of e-readers is sufficient for that yet.

Personally, I'd rather pay a little more and get the book instantly than pay less and have to wait. But if I didn't have access to a very good local library system and had to buy everything I wanted to read, I might feel differently.

The nearest town with a bookstore (to me) is 35 miles away. It has only one retail bookstore and two tiny used bookstores. The one retail bookstore is a Waldenbooks.

This really stinks because I'm fairly certain that another bookstore will not be taking its place. I know that as a customer (fairly regular one at that) I don't have near as much reason to complain as all of the people out of a job but I can't help but feel the loss.

Snail, I hope you're right. I like the convenience of ebooks, but I still love a book in my hands. I'd really miss not being able to get books in print. But that's another discussion, I guess.

Cristina wrote: "The nearest town with a bookstore (to me) is 35 miles away. It has only one retail bookstore and two tiny used bookstores. The one retail bookstore is a Waldenbooks.

This really stinks because I'..."

I really have seen the Waldenbooks disappear. The two that I used to go to are both gone, one had a Barnes and Nobles added to it.

What I liked about Waldenbooks was that it was suppose to be a really small store, so they are not likely to have everything that one is looking for, but they did have old editions of books there that were four or five years old that sometimes. I think they did not restock, which to me was really cool.

I was planning to hit the sales today, but just can't bring myself to go in there and "pick at the bones." It's like a funeral for a friend, except that I probably contributed to that friend's demise. I can bemoan the loss of Borders, but I haven't spent any money there since last Christmas, when I bought gift certificates for my nieces.

I volunteer with a Border Collie rescue group, and every holiday season, we would participate in their charity gift-wrapping program, and the "Borders" would come to "Borders" and wrap presents in exchange for donations. It was a big part of our fundraising efforts, and a lot of fun - the people at the store always looked forward to us bringing the dogs. I'm making myself all misty-eyed, just thinking about it.

This is just bad, for readers and authors both. My local Borders is just down the road. I've done book signings there, browsed for hours, met with other writers in their cafe. This just sucks.

Kevin wrote: "I remember the big bookstore that I went to was called Library Limited..."

Saint Louis?

Jensownzoo wrote: "Kevin wrote: "I remember the big bookstore that I went to was called Library Limited..."

Saint Louis?"

Yup, glad that you have heard of it. I lived about 10 minutes away from the store.

I remember the first time I walked into that store...I had never seen a bookstore that big! It helped that it was open until 11pm too. When I was in high school I had a job that ended at 9pm, so if I didn't have school the next day, a lot of times I ended up there.

Jensownzoo wrote: "I remember the first time I walked into that store...I had never seen a bookstore that big! It helped that it was open until 11pm too. When I was in high school I had a job that ended at 9pm, so ..."

Nice, so you lived in Saint Louis, too?

Still do. I live in south St. Louis now, but back in high school, I lived in Ballwin, went to Webster Groves High School, and worked in Maplewood.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "Snail, I hope you're right. I like the convenience of ebooks, but I still love a book in my hands. I'd really miss not being able to get books in print. But that's another discussion, I guess."

True, a discussion s o m e w h e r e... anywho, my latest issue with electronic books is:

"Where do I have the author sign?"

Jensownzoo wrote: "Still do. I live in south St. Louis now, but back in high school, I lived in Ballwin, went to Webster Groves High School, and worked in Maplewood."

Nice, I went to grade school and middle school in Clayton, then high school in Ladue. Before I moved I would always be around Maplewood. Good times.

I grew up in Jackson MI, short drive to Ann Arbor, MI, where I now live. The home of that first struggling Borders. When Borders itself was indie. It hits hard to my heart with memories as a child all the way up to the closing. I didn't go to the closing either. I just couldn't bear it.