Borders Stumbles

February 16, 2011
Borders files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Borders is my favorite bookseller chain, or at least it was. I’m afraid the writing is on the wall—they won’t be around much longer. The location nearest me is on the chopping block, one of 200 closures. And more are sure to follow. The retail fracturing continues. B. Dalton’s (my former employer) closed its doors for good in January, 2010. Crown Books (another former employer) is down to a handful of stores. Luckily for Borders I never worked for them, making their demise slower.

This trend will continue. Within a few years there will only be two major players. Barnes & Noble will be your brick and mortar option, and Amazon your online choice. I’m not a sentimental guy, but something about bookstores closing just makes me sad. We had a great bookstore here in Colorado called Little Bookshop of Horrors that shuttered its doors some time ago. I still think about it every time I drive past the city of Arvada.

All of these closings and failures make the small publishers even more important, particularly those who sell their books online. Subterranean Press is a great example of a small press success story. They print their own books and sell them on their site as well. This may be the small press model that succeeds in the end. Time will tell.