And we come to the end
I stopped by the store today and they were carting off the cafe. Upstairs was gone, just scarred red paint, wood fragments and walls of windows. On the first floor the managers were all covering the registers, half the bookcase, if not more were gone, the left over books were on rolling cars and behind the only real signs of life were pockmarks in the shape of B-O-R-D-E-R-S. By now it’s dark and silent and it’ll probably stay like for a while. Like I said at the beginning across the street in the same building (because the street goes through the structure) is another dark, silent retail space, less than a fifth the size that’s been nothing but a place for 4th Street Live! to prop up their advertisements for two years now.
Today I’m officially laid off, though my last day was Friday. Truthfully it was anti-climatic. No big exciting blow outs. No moving speeches of friendship and passion. Just a trickle of sad patrons and a crew too tired to care anymore.
I’m alternating between excited at the thought of a new job and scared of the process of finding it. I really did love my job at Borders until we started liquidating. Even with the BR+ pushing and knowing that I was there on the tail end of something great. If it was Empire Records then I came in after Joe’d ran in for a while and some of the crew had moved on to college or more long term careers and as iTunes exploded in popularity. I knew it should have been a thing of wonder, and could see how it had been, but by the time I got there she was a swollen kneed, sway backed old mare.
I have Borders bucks for this month, after snatching up some deals of my own, and I’m no one to waste that (or the 50% off coupon I got from the the store) but I really don’t feel excited about walking into more red either. I’ve always been conflicted when it came to where I bought my books from, because amazon is evil, but B&N was way too far away, BAM didn’t seem to know what they were talking about and always pushed that card on me. Borders seemed like the perfect alternative when it opened in 4th Street Live! But now, well if I’m going to be neglected as a customer and find shelves lacking what I really want I might as well go for low prices right? And the irony is that Amazon is the only new bookstore these days not pushing a card.
Damn I hate that they win.
But maybe it’s time to retail to realize it’s not about pushing, triggering, sweet talking or conning us to buy, it’s about offering what we want to buy anyway.
I’m very sorry to those of you who have gone through this, are still stuck in this, or are just starting the process. I hope you all have a good GM, good family and friend, or at least good beer to get your though. And of course, that fortune shines fairer on you in the future.
I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.
I’m sorry to see the end of your “day #” posts. Good luck and godspeed.
I’ll still keep reading but I’ll miss the saga, especially since it parallels ours and probably every other closing store.
And I’ll be thinking a lot of you and the other people still stuck in the mire. I hope all turns out well for you in the end 🙂
Michele,
I stumbled upon this via twitter and I have to say thank you for writing this! I started working as a barista in a Borders in MN last summer and loved the customers and my co-workers. We’ve been going through liquidation and I found out today we’re closing a week from Thursday.
As a barista, it was sad to be forced to go on register. When they began the fixture sale, a fellow cafe girl and myself just went in the back of the cafe and stood in silence. It was like going to a funeral. Oh the terrors of going up to the front register and realizing we had no idea how to really ring up books – let alone sign into ATLAS! Luckily, the booksellers knew we had no clue what we were doing and routinely checked on us and patiently taught us (repeatedly!) how to take off DVD & CD cases.
I’m mainly upset by Border’s lack of appreciation towards people who have been with the company for years. Myself? It was just a job to help pay for school/rent. But for my managers? They have dedicated 10+ years to this company and don’t even get a thank you.
Well, for a silver lining – at least we finally get to do whatever we want and won’t get in trouble because what are they going to do? Fire me?
Good luck on your job search!
Yeah, Andrea, that bugged me too. I was just with Borders for a few months, but I worked with many people who had been there for years, and one who had been with an indie bookstore that sold to Borders and then joined up with Borders. And my GM moved to take over the store only 10 weeks before it was stuck on the closing list. I worry more about them than myself most days.
Good luck with your last days and I hope you find an awesome job too!
I’m from one of the stores that closed friday as well.
I know how it feels and I’m sorry anyone else had to go through it.
Gook luck. 🙁
That sums it up. Good luck to you as well.
Thanks for the blog and good luck with your job search. Our store in PA was still getting books from other liquidating stores last week since we were selling so fast so I have a couple weeks left before the end.
The thing I will miss most is the good people that I worked with and the good regular customers that I loved serving. For every ten crappy customers whining about prices and coupons there was that one kid that comes up gripping that book they can’t wait to go home and read and that made it all worth it for me. I will miss the discount too around Christmas, and the days when both my wife and I worked together the same day were always fun. Now we will go back to our full time jobs and that little part of our life will be gone. But there were long term friends made at Borders, and at least one marriage that I know of, and so our lives were made better by the experience. That is all you can ask of a job no matter where you work, and we had a good run.
I’m so glad to hear that you did have good enough memories to outweigh the bad. And a marriage? Really? That is awesome.
Dear Michele,
Thanks so much for your brave and thoughtful blog these last few weeks. It has been enlightening and comforting. As a customer, it has been a sad process to watch the 4 Borders in my local Los Angeles area close over the last couple of years, and this month. With each closing, I have felt like a friend was moving away that I will never see again. Doubly sad, I work in publishing as an art director and graphic designer and have been laid off 3 times in the last ten years, as each of the small publishers I worked for, closed. I am also a writer and have watched the big houses cut their lists dramatically over the last 2 years. I am still hopeful for our industry, as I know people still want to read and will still buy books in some format. But it feels like we will all be reading alone with our devices, at Starbucks.
Good luck to you. I believe you have a bright future and anyone who hires you will have won the lottery by getting an intelligent, loyal, and caring employee.
Aww, you are very sweet Laurie. I was told a few days ago that San Fran now has no Borders or B&N. I suppose this should just go to show though, that things are always changing and today’s powerhouses won’t always be there.