Borders has abandoned efforts to refinance its debts, and is preparing bankruptcy papers and seeking financing agreements that would keep it operating during the Chapter 11 restructuring process, the people said.Once a corporate giant, Borders had over 40,000 employees and more than 1200 stores during its prime time in 2005. Unfortunately, that is not the case today. Based on the data graph below, there's a sharp decline in both employees and stores within the last five years.
![[BORDERS]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-AZ471_BORDER_NS_20110211185420.jpg)
(Source: WSJ)
This is a hard blow to the book industry. As Americans eagerly embrace technology, iPad, Nook, and Kindle are ubiquitous. E-readers are doing to Borders what Netflix and videos on demand did to Blockbuster. Unless Borders can find a way to successfully restructure itself, it is only a matter of time before e-books will antiquate physical books and even book stores.
I am very sadden by the news as visiting bookstores were a favorite part of my childhood. I love to peruse through book stacks to see what catch my attention. Maybe I'm just an old soul that prefers physical books, but there's a sense of nostalgia to lounge in a comfy chair and hold a real book while reading.
Is this the end of an era?
Physical books are problematic because they take up space requiring Borders stores to rent/lease locations for distribution. From an environmental perspective, it is a good thing that there will be fewer paperbacks. It is also cost effective to sell electronic books from one location—a URL, which is ultimately less expensive than renting several locations around the country.
ReplyDeleteCarrying textbooks is not convenient for university students and having electronic textbooks does not require much shoulder power because the books are in the computer’s hard drive. Modern computing is changing old traditions (like going to bookstores) but what is intriguing is that it is creating a new tradition.