Adieu Borders

Today I made what may be my last trip to our local Borders store--it's one of the branches that the chain is closing down this month.  You know, it's just too weird to go in that store and not smell coffee brewing.  I'll miss Borders-we also have a prospering Barnes and Nobles in our area, but Borders was always the more cozy and laid back of the two.   I suppose it's not too surprising that Borders is closing, with the rise of online booksellers and mp3 downloading, but I can't help thinking that the chain gave up on our branch too soon.  Things actually started going downhill for our Borders when the big-as-a-barn B&N store opened-it was as if the folks at Borders headquarters gave up the battle right away.  It was at that point that the Borders store started looking a little shabby and didn't carry quite the selection of merchandise it originally did.  And as they carried less and less variety, B&N picked up more & more of the business...so goodbye Borders.

It was really unique in the beginning, the whole bookstore with a coffee shop concept, but I think both chains grew too fast.  And now the business model doesn't work as well, with additional competition from the internet.  Still, I'd hate to think of the world without physical brick-and-mortar bookstores where you can actually pick up a book and flip through it.  E-Readers are nice, but it's just not the same.

Hmmm....maybe somebody should reverse the business model.  Instead of a big bookstore with a small coffee shop, a big coffee shop/cafe with a smaller bookstore/ebook dowloading station.  Any genius investors out there willing to try?  :)