Can we just take a moment and mourn when the original Borders in Ann Arbor on State Street sold out. It was one of the best bookstores I've been to - in the vein of Powell's of Portland or Elliot Bay of Seattle. Its first step from local store to mega store in the 1990s was the first little death of its soul.

I find it odd that until this article, I'd never herd the notion that Borders was the underdog/family store versus Barnes & Noble. I'd always believed the opposite, avoiding Borders at every turn.

Not one book by Zola in the store. B&A did. Imagine no Zola.

Supermanga is a super whiner. All that reading and you still never learned spelling or basic grammar, but at least you're angry and superior. Bet that's carried you far in life. Now go make me a latte.

Assembly line blowjobs at the company party. Sure. Knife-play and contributing to the delinquencey of minors? You betcha. But stealing from the boss? Beyond the pale.

Hmph. Sounds legit.

I worked at Borders twice, once during a post-grad program and once between school and "real" work.

It was my first retail job and it was a trial by fire. I worked during the "key" and "make" book era. We were required to push certain titles - regardless of our opinion of them and whether or not we'd read them - and our numbers were tracked. Employees with low key and make numbers were fired without consideration of what else they sold, how well they knew their store and clientele, or how long they'd worked for the company. The managers of stores with low key and make numbers were also punished and at times fired, regardless of their performance in their district.

Well. I just ran out of steam thinking about it all. Suffice to say by the time I left I felt I might as well have been selling shower curtains at KMart (who paid more, btw). It was retail hell and the smell of desperation in the air stunk.

I am snarkily interested to see how my local GM fares. Over a decade of people management by firing and allowing the computer generation to pass her by is about to bite her in the ass. A legion of employees she sacrificed on the alter of Ann Arbor's absurdities is about to bite her on the ass.

My partner worked at Borders for almost 10 years. It was a great place. And yes Virginia, it was head and hands above any "atmosphere" that Barnes and Noble" could ever hope to create in their stores. And all the things you have relayed in this piece are things my partner railed about for along time as things just got progressively worse and worse over time. It is truly a loss. But time marches on and we will as well. It's a pity, it really is.

E-assholes. I love it!

Your article is very engaging and I enjoyed reading it, but I don't understand the derision toward e-readers. It's like saying that printing on paper versus inscribing on scrolls devalues the writing itself.

People who love books and reading, will continue to read regardless of the format/media their books come in. And if books are presented in a way that is compatible with the busy and mobile way people live nowadays, all the better. Lugging a thousand-pager on the commuter train or on a camping trip would be quite inconvenient, for example.

I'm old, so I pick up on these things, but seems to me your whole opening gambit about being a hedonistic, unfeeling artiste among many hedonistic unfeeling artistes employed there sets the entire stage. It reads as failure from the ground up.

I'm sorry, but I am a book lover AND a bargain hunter.. I don't think they are mutually exclusive.

Perfect example of a liberal whining. Now, I feel bad for anybody losing their job, but I can't be sad for people being forced to find a job that is - gasp! - not in a book-related field. That's life. None of us is owed a job in our chosen field. There would be many fields I wish I could find a job in - including anything to do with books, which I love. Unfortunately, I would never be able to find one that would pay enough. We all make our choices.

You complain about not being able to unionize Borders earlier. The fact that they weren't unionized probably extended their life (and the ability for 11,000 employees to enjoy a bookselling job) a few years more.

Post 135 = conservative idiot. I'm surprised poster could read.

WTF IS A BOOK?

TL;DR

We had a moderate sized Borders here in the hills of Southern California exurbia that closed a few months ago in a frenzy of bargain madness. Kinda sad, really. It was a great place to go to spend a few hours, and maybe walk out with a nice volume to read later.

I worked for Borders' for nine years after I retired from teaching. I too loved books and stocked my library over the years. I left when I was changed to part time, losing all my benefits that made the difference when working for $8.33/hr. I loved the customers and coworkers and formed life-long friendships. I waited for the "other shoe to drop" for l 1/2 yrs. while witnessing unwarranted expansions at a time when the co. was loosing money and a general disregard for the quality of work when they were only watching the bottom line. District Managers would visit and change things around with no eye to customer's comfort. One had the reputation of never visiting a store he didn't want to change. There were only two other full time workers left when I threw in the towel. Three part time workers were hired in my place. It was so sad to see a once strong pillar of the retail community hit such a downfall. Fortunately I moved on to bigger and better things, but I will always remember Borders'! A hard-working former employee

Worked for BIS (Borders HQ)in the '89-'91 timeframe. The rot started at the very top (guys who name was on the wall) One was a crack-head who "disappeared" for six years and suddenly re-appeared and ruined the computer inventory system he invented. The other was trying to buy up the other 1/2 of A2 real estate he didn't own yet. (student slumlord). They brought in Bobby Di. who knew zip about book business -- He was into Hick farms sausages -- replacing Wagner who really knew the retail book experience and tried desperately to manage the place and expansion. When the owners of a business attention wanders then look out! The night I was called in at 3AM by one of them for him to vet his latest drug induced hallucination business idea, and met his bodyguard-dealer (scariest dude in A2) was final straw. I didn't need to work for a looney-tune like that! He wanted to start an internet business selling paintings over the internet, when he was sitting on a goldmine of selling books over same! This was before anyone had ever heard of Bezos or Amazon!

When Borders ran out of cash to fuel expansion, they went to IPO, but when they found out the due diligence that NYSE would require, they realized that one of their drug convictions and jail time would become public knowledge, they fled and sold out in a quickie private sale to K-mart, for a LOT less than was worth....
he then went out to blow a ton of other peoples money on a hare-brained scheme to sell groceries over the Internet! Not realizing that most people LIKE to squeeze the tomatoes before they purchase!
sad all around, but I got out before that calamity!
A fool and his/her money are soon parted.