4 ms·

This saddens me. Borders have always had nicer stores for a book lover than B&N... I can immediately tell if I'm going to like a bookstore by whether they displ

by lukev 16y ago

This saddens me. Borders have always had nicer stores for a book lover than B&N... I can immediately tell if I'm going to like a bookstore by whether they display books cover-out, or on a shelf with the spine out. This immediately indicates whether they emphasize a large, diverse inventory, or focus only on mass market material. Borders did it right, unlike most other stores including B&N. They have an especially large technical inventory. Their books were overpriced, of course, but they actually sent out 30%-50% off coupons weekly, bringing them basically to Amazon's levels - so while I did the bulk of my book-buying on Amazon, I really enjoyed dropping into the store every week or two and browsing for something fun to buy.

nkassis 16y ago
I feel the same, B&N sucks royally for anything but best sellers. The borders next to the school where I went always had an pretty good computer, math and science selection. Their weekly coupons were awesome. 30% on any books. But I just went back (I moved about a year ago) and they don't seem to be receiving a large amount of new stuff. The shelf were all screwed up ( I feel odd saying this but I help keep that computer section in order ;p Python stuff next to oracle crap is a mistake ;p). I probably spent 30% of my student loans on books at borders because I'd have a hard time waiting to get home and buying from amazon. Plus like you said the 30% coupons made buying from amazon a waste of time. They changed that for borders bucks which I think was a major mistake. Bring back the coupons.
cafard 16y ago
Cover-out can also be the sign of a bookstore lacking inventory to fill the shelves. I've seen it happen to a bunch, some of them which had ambitions & were anything but mass-market. Borders was a revelation when it opened. I'll miss it if it disappears.
jcw 16y ago
I didn't know that, are they still sending out these coupons?
- dmlorenzetti 16y ago
  The last coupon I got by e-mail was around the end of December. Ordinarily they came out once or even twice a week, so it feels as if they've finished doing this. However, this site lists some current coupons: http://www.dealigg.com/story-Borders-Coupon-Code-Discount http://www.dealigg.com/story-Borders-Coupon-Code-Discount
- BarkMore 16y ago
  Yes, I received a 33% off one item coupon yesterday. They sent 50% off one item coupons around the first of the year. I never buy anything at Borders without a coupon.
  - caseyboardman 16y ago
    Me either. And they come out all the time on their twitter feed: http://twitter.com/#!/borders http://twitter.com/#!/borders
lhnn 16y ago
The Barnes and Noble in Clear Lake, TX (near NASA) had a 30'x8' wall of programming and sysadmin books, and 3x that when you take in general computing, math, and science. I loved it. "Corporate" had them rearrange the store a bit, and the selection is (or looks) a bit smaller now. Borders in San Antonio has a large selection of said topics, and I'm impressed. The only thing about Borders that bugs me is the lack of sitting areas. I wonder if their demise would actually be good for a lot of independent booksellers whose customers would avoid B&N.
- golgo13 16y ago
  I live in Austin and if I want a tech book from borders, there is usually 0 inventory here. There is something about those San Antonio Borders, though. They seem to have all of the books in stock. Are they that much larger than the stores in Austin? Or is SA a growing tech hub?
  - lhnn 16y ago
    There's only one SA borders that I know of; one got closed down within the past year. Huebner/I-10 is the open one. I know several datacenters are in San Antonio. MSFT, Rackspace, etc. Also, the NW side has a medical center, a university, and several banks (USAA's HQ is a mile away from it). In short, the NW side is an affluent area.
mwexler 16y ago
If one has multiple copies of a book, say 5 or more, they can take up less shelf space cover-out than side by side, depending on thickness... which allows you stock a larger, diverse inventory while still having copies in stock for the popular titles. Also, if a book is a very popular book, it's worthwhile to have it cover-out so that folks can quickly locate it. That doesn't mean the store focuses only on mass market, but instead focuses on customers: some want the popular item, so make it easy for them and not be out of stock on these, and some want more depth, so try to stock as deep as you can on the shelves. For many stores across many industries, having enough stock of popular items subsidizes the ability of the store to stock rarer and less-often selling stock.
rtghnthyjnm 16y ago
The cover/spine out is a marketing thing by the publisher. Cover out sells a lot more books, so the publisher will insist on certain books being displayed like this, or prominently on 'new book' stands. Sometimes the publishers pay for this service, but more often it's blackmail - "put our new diet book cover out or you will get the next Harry Potter book a week later than Amazon"

by lukev 16y ago

nkassis 16y ago

I feel the same, B&N sucks royally for anything but best sellers. The borders next to the school where I went always had an pretty good computer, math and science selection. Their weekly coupons were awesome. 30% on any books. But I just went back (I moved about a year ago) and they don't seem to be receiving a large amount of new stuff. The shelf were all screwed up ( I feel odd saying this but I help keep that computer section in order ;p Python stuff next to oracle crap is a mistake ;p). I probably spent 30% of my student loans on books at borders because I'd have a hard time waiting to get home and buying from amazon. Plus like you said the 30% coupons made buying from amazon a waste of time. They changed that for borders bucks which I think was a major mistake. Bring back the coupons.

cafard 16y ago

Cover-out can also be the sign of a bookstore lacking inventory to fill the shelves. I've seen it happen to a bunch, some of them which had ambitions & were anything but mass-market. Borders was a revelation when it opened. I'll miss it if it disappears.

jcw 16y ago

I didn't know that, are they still sending out these coupons?

dmlorenzetti 16y ago
The last coupon I got by e-mail was around the end of December. Ordinarily they came out once or even twice a week, so it feels as if they've finished doing this. However, this site lists some current coupons: http://www.dealigg.com/story-Borders-Coupon-Code-Discount http://www.dealigg.com/story-Borders-Coupon-Code-Discount
BarkMore 16y ago
Yes, I received a 33% off one item coupon yesterday. They sent 50% off one item coupons around the first of the year. I never buy anything at Borders without a coupon.
- caseyboardman 16y ago
  Me either. And they come out all the time on their twitter feed: http://twitter.com/#!/borders http://twitter.com/#!/borders

lhnn 16y ago

The Barnes and Noble in Clear Lake, TX (near NASA) had a 30'x8' wall of programming and sysadmin books, and 3x that when you take in general computing, math, and science. I loved it. "Corporate" had them rearrange the store a bit, and the selection is (or looks) a bit smaller now. Borders in San Antonio has a large selection of said topics, and I'm impressed. The only thing about Borders that bugs me is the lack of sitting areas. I wonder if their demise would actually be good for a lot of independent booksellers whose customers would avoid B&N.

golgo13 16y ago
I live in Austin and if I want a tech book from borders, there is usually 0 inventory here. There is something about those San Antonio Borders, though. They seem to have all of the books in stock. Are they that much larger than the stores in Austin? Or is SA a growing tech hub?
- lhnn 16y ago
  There's only one SA borders that I know of; one got closed down within the past year. Huebner/I-10 is the open one. I know several datacenters are in San Antonio. MSFT, Rackspace, etc. Also, the NW side has a medical center, a university, and several banks (USAA's HQ is a mile away from it). In short, the NW side is an affluent area.

mwexler 16y ago

If one has multiple copies of a book, say 5 or more, they can take up less shelf space cover-out than side by side, depending on thickness... which allows you stock a larger, diverse inventory while still having copies in stock for the popular titles. Also, if a book is a very popular book, it's worthwhile to have it cover-out so that folks can quickly locate it. That doesn't mean the store focuses only on mass market, but instead focuses on customers: some want the popular item, so make it easy for them and not be out of stock on these, and some want more depth, so try to stock as deep as you can on the shelves. For many stores across many industries, having enough stock of popular items subsidizes the ability of the store to stock rarer and less-often selling stock.

rtghnthyjnm 16y ago

The cover/spine out is a marketing thing by the publisher. Cover out sells a lot more books, so the publisher will insist on certain books being displayed like this, or prominently on 'new book' stands. Sometimes the publishers pay for this service, but more often it's blackmail - "put our new diet book cover out or you will get the next Harry Potter book a week later than Amazon"