The Decline of Borders...What Happened? 

My highschool girlfriend and I practically lived at Borders in the early 2000s. There was something about coffee and books and music that seemed so sophisticated for us young teenagers. I feel bad teens now don’t have a safe enriching place like that to hang out anymore; even Barnes and Noble feels like a toy store now in its struggle to survive.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED BORDERS, and still mourn their loss. I could spend hours in Borders, and Barnes & Noble just never managed to hit the exact right notes that Borders did without effort. They missed the boat on e-readers, then came out with a lesser model, and it was too little/too late. When I pass by a couple of those former Borders locations, my heart hurts. I wasn't just a Borders customer; I was a Borders fanatic. The only reason I quit going is when they locked the doors. I'd go back tomorrow if I had the chance.

Son of a former Borders finance guy at the headquarters, worked from 1997 to its closing in various departments. I shared this video with him and he loved it, and said it was extremely accurate. He wanted to add a couple possible reasons for the downfall as well -Borders was always playing for 2nd place. They had the 2nd best locations, the 2nd best coffee shops in the stores, the 2nd best e-readers, things like that. Barnes & Noble survived because they were in the lead on most of those fronts, and when there’s no room for two competing book store chains, the lowest on the totem pole has to fall -Walden books had 1300 locations, mostly tied to malls. As malls started to decline, they couldn’t pull out of those leases and find someone to fill it, and they were losing money. Even though B&N had a similar company with similar locations, they only had 700 so the impact was less -Borders took a risk expanding internationally. They opened locations in the UK and one in Singapore, both of which were costly investments that didn’t pay off -This one is a bit more speculative, but most book publishers are based in New York, and so is B&N. Few publishers would rather fly out to Ann Arbor than take a taxi in NY for a business meeting over dinner I laughed a lot when he told me he received his biggest ever bonus because Borders only lost $19 million that year

I worked at Borders as a weekend job from September 1998 until June 2000. I remember the interview process was pretty detailed with questions about books and music and I apparently did okay because I was offered the job the next week. I worked in the music department (which also included the video section). I really liked the job for the most part and yes we prided ourselves on being able to help customers find exactly what they were looking for or being able to order it and have it at the store within 3 business days. I also learned so much about music and artists that it was crazy. I was already a music fan and thought I was pretty knowledgeable, but after working at Borders I broadened my musical horizons and found that I really liked a lot of different music that I either had never heard of or had a preconceived notion that I would not enjoy. My favorite moment of customer service happened when a high school girl came to the music counter and said that she needed some French music for a project for her French class where they would present a song and talk about the lyrics and translate them to English. She said that everyone was doing Celine Dion songs and she wondered if there was anything else in French that would be different. Fortunately for her, I had just discovered a new French duo called Les Nubians, which was a cool, slightly jazzy, R&B style music and they were French. Long story short, she got something completely cool and different from the rest of her classmates and I was able to totally wow her and her family with how quickly I was able to get it in their hands. I think that once that kind of customer service started to disappear, it was the beginning of the end for Borders!

As a Borders employee at multiple locations from 2002-2006, and again from 2009-2011, I can say this is mostly spot-on. From what I could see the music and movie section actually did pretty well though. The big thing I saw was each new CEO wanting to put their own stamp on the company without a proper direction, focusing less and less on books and more on random stuff like body products, toys, and greeting cards/wrapping paper. In the beginning it was a great place to work, but by the end it was miserable. I quit exactly one month before its demise, with both middle fingers in the air.

I used to shop at Borders in highschool specifically because they sold manga. No other bookstore around me at the time did this. Then around 2006, I discovered Kinokuniya, a Japanese chain that sold manga that cost 40-50% of the price Borders were charging. From that moment on, I never had a reason to enter a Borders again.

I CRIED when Borders died 😭 Borders was my happy place, my safe place, my refuge when life went wrong. Borders was my PUB. There were SO many days I wandered the stacks, trying not to cry as I drank my chai latte and tried to pull myself together. I MISS Borders!!!!!! 🥺😔

My family worked for Borders back in the day for decades, and you are absolutely correct about the cutting corners with part-time employees. But on top of that, they also let numerous higher salaried people (who had been with them from the beginning) go in lieu of new hires with whom they didn’t have to pay so much. My mother worked there for over 25 years and she was let go and replaced with someone who was brand new. They didn’t even pay that new person 1/3 of what my mother made. Corners CUT.

I can't believe it has already been 12 years since Borders shut down. I'm just like you - every time I drive by my old Borders, I say "that used to be Borders." I remember when I was a kid, I always thought that was my dad's favorite store. It seemed like whenever he had free time, he would go buy a new book. I also remember when I was really little, they would have story time for kids. This is going to sound weird, but I almost felt a loyalty to Borders - so much so that when they closed, I was hesitant to go to a Barnes and Noble when I needed a book. I can still remember the smell of coffee wofting through the air, the rolling ladders attached the massive shelves; our Borders was 2 stories with the cafe on the top floor, and sometimes if we were lucky (though it was very rare) my dad would buy us a hot chocolate from there. I do kind of miss it, though I don't really read a lot anymore.

My Mother loved her Borders and the staff. They were always so friendly to her. When they were closing, she went there the last day to be the last customer and say good bye. I know she still misses them.

Borders was the best book store out there, Barnes and Nobles just isn't the same thing. It wasn't the selection of books...it was the atmosphere. I'll never forget the memories I formed with my dad going to Borders. You would walk in and feel like you were in a cozy home, with Jazz music playing in the background and a 'cozy' atmosphere. I remember going to the expresso bar with my dad and there would be lots of people sitting at the tables reading books. I also remember there being many places to sit around the bookstore, and people would spend literal hours inside the store reading and even discussing books or music with other people; reading on some forums, apparently, lots of people made life long friends at Borders store because of this. Borders wasn't just a store...it was more of a Libary-Store hybrid. You never felt like you were in a store, you felt like you were in a library or a cozy home. To this day, I miss this store so much, maybe because I spent many years as a child there with my dad, but Barnes and Nobles just doesn't have that same feeling. Nothing against Barnes, it's a great store as well, however, that's the problem for me, you feel like you're in a store... :( wish somehow Borders could be brought back from the grave but that will never happen, even more so with the digital age. Even Barnes and Nobles is struggling because of Amazon, as people become lazier and dont want to go to a book store anymore, and instead order it online. I really hope there will still be book stores in the future, but it doesn't look good. Unironically, we will probably have small local bookstores survive in the future, reverting from big box to small lol.

I worked at Borders for about 4 years while in college and I loved it. I remember having to sign people up for the Borders Rewards Card and also when the cafes switched to Seattle’s Best. Harry Potter Midnight Releases were my store’s busiest times. I left in 2007 and every time I pass by the old building which is now a TJ Maxx, I always say that used to be the Borders I worked at!

There was a Borders store 2 miles from my house, I spent alot of time there. I cried when it got closed.

I worked at Borders from 1996-2003, eventually becoming a manager and trainer. All your reasons are spot on. We had a hiring freeze and my store ran on a skeleton crew. 30k square foot store with only 4 employees there at a time. Customer service and morale went down the tube.

Borders was my little piece of heaven on earth. I was going through a very stressful time and Borders helped. One day I went there, found a new paperback by an author I liked,got a fancy coffee and a cookie and just relaxed. I could feel the stress just drain out of me. I really needed that. Plus great music selection.🥰☕️🍪❤️

The closest Borders to me got turned into a Books A Million right after going out of business. The BAM who moved in didn't even change the interior at all, they just changed the sign outside. 😂 They did do a little bit of remodeling a few years later, but it was mostly superfical stuff, like changing the carpet and rearranging the bookshelves. But the store is still basically identical to how it was back in the early 2000's. It was my dream as a kid to work at Borders while in college. RIP.

We never, and still don't, have Barnes and Nobels so it really hurt when our Borders shut down. Amazon is fine if you know what you want but I found so much cool stuff at Borders just by browsing. Plus they had a fun open mic night with lots of cool local artists. Great store. I miss it

My dad actually used to work as an internal auditor at Borders when I was in like 4th grade. We moved to an apartment in Ann Arbor for a bit thinking we would full on move there as he worked with them, but he ended up leaving and we moved again before I started 5th grade. I never thought much about it as a kid since I didn't even know what internal audit was, but I'm 21 now and I think it would be interesting to ask him for the inside scoop on what was going down.

Been waiting for this one! I worked there in 2007-2010 and the decline was obvious from the inside. I was part-time and making min wage with my only raise being when the min wage increased in my state. The management started pushing "customer service" aka badgering the customers who just wanted to browse in order to get them to buy more. I think we lost a lot of regulars that way. They became way more interested in upselling toys and little nick nacks rather than books. It was a nice place to work when I was in college but definitely wouldn't have stayed any longer.

"They sold their entire business to K-Mart..." I think I know what went wrong. 😂 Seriously though, for them to have been big in the Midwest, I don't think I had ever even seen a Borders. We had plenty of Barnes and Noble & Books-A-Million, though. Great video! I LOVED going to the bookstore! 📖

As a compulsive reader, I used to invade Waldenbooks every month; everybody working there became friends to me. They knew the books I wanted, so they would pull out a stack and I would leave with a FULL bag. Their discount cards helped a lot with that :)

I worked at a Borders in the early 00's expansion was an issue for a year at every meeting before shift they'd announce one or two new stores openings. Then a year later when profits were down they just cut cost accross the board vs focusing on the stores that worked. Which brought all the stores down. Also they were horrible at advertising themselves.

Worked as an associate>manager at Borders for nigh 11 years. It’s nice to see people remember it fondly. Moving on to other companies, it became clear how profit-challenging the book business was and how many regrettable decisions they made. Still, it was a lot of fun and the closest staff I ever had.

I worked there for 15 years. The failure to establish a website early on, apart from that wonky deal that gave all our online business to Amazon, was a major factor. 2008 may have been peak revenue, but the company was already well in decline by that point. The other major factor I would point to is turnover in corporate direction. They kept changing leadership and trying different things, and then immediately getting cold feet and backing out. It was like death by 1000 cuts. In 2011 I ended up a Borders refugee, but finally landed at another, smaller bookstore with a better store culture, which isn't to say that the store culture in Borders was bad, but it was a Big retailer, and that meant a lot of agreements between the company and publishers or distributors that had to be adhered to (for instance, how items were displayed). Shoplifting was an issue as well. We had a fairly aggressive approach to it, but ultimately you can only do so much, and if you don't know exactly what your limits are, you can end up in trouble. We had a pretty good inventory system, but not as advanced as a company like Walmart, and it definitely could have been improved, which, if done right, would have streamlined the customer experience with things like locating and ordering books. It was a good company, but it failed to adapt to the existence of the internet. Amazon basically used it as a springboard to success, while Borders went into decline.

I worked at Borders as manager in the early 90s. Each store would have 3 times as many titles as the average Barnes & Noble but there were so many items we couldn't sell. We had an entire section of Shakespeare plays in French and German and Italian. It was almost every play and took 2 full shelves. We could tell from the inventory stickers that these books were sitting for 3 years. The amount of books we had in storage was criminal. We could move bestsellers at 30% off but full priced weird specialty books just sad. The carrying costs for Borders must have been massive

When i was in Army combat medic training at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio in 2002, I spent almost every evening and day off at Borders just hanging out. It had such a chill atmosphere and it felt so nice after being yelled at and training hard day in and day out. I didnt have a car at the time so it was like the only decent store within walking distance. I bought tons of CDs and a good amount of books from them and also did most of my studying there as well. Good times.

This one hurt. I loved Borders and when it went out of business, I was really sad. They were my gateway into manga because they were one of the few places that actually had a dedicated section for anime and manga merch.

I have SO many fond memories of going to Borders back in mid-90's to early 2000's. My mom was a total book worm so we were always going to some bookstore. I do remember the employees at Borders (usually young guys) being very personable and genuinely passionate about what they carried. When Borders closed down, I later shopped at B&N but their employees were usually just awkward, quiet middle aged women that acted like you were bothering them and had no idea what you were talking about. The music section in Borders was fantastic. I was always in that area. I loved their computer system where you could search for music yourself and see if they carried it or find other albums from artists you liked. If they didn't have it, I think they could order it for you, which was such a big deal at the time.

I worked at a location. We made nothing on newly published books. If you look deeper into that topic you will find that both Borders and B&N got into trouble for under cutting each other to the point where the publishers forced them to sell at a higher price. There were also no profits to be had on older books since the shelf time ate away at the profits. Our only profit came from the stacks of discount coffee table books which were always stacked up near the register for shoppers to impulse buy while waiting to check out. So, if you build a brick and mortar operation where 95% of your floor space is not bringing in profits, then your doomed to fail.

Company man, I've been in the hospital marathoning your videos, thank you so much for your series, its helped keep me sane

I was loyal customer at Borders all the way up till the end, my late father and I would go every Sunday after breakfast they would send us coupons via e-mail and we would always dig around the clearance section and our favorite genres and often leave with a least one book. I think the primary reason they went under was they got too focused on music and movies, nobody went there for that and even if you did every DVD or CD was highly overpriced when compared to Walmart or Best Buy. I never really understood it if you went to Borders you went because you loved books, and yet they devoted a quarter of the store to stuff that people were not there for.

Back in it's heyday, our Borders in Champaign, IL had employees who were linked to the live-local music scene, so the Borders cafe was a legit live local music venue (mostly acoustic acts, of course). They had a local music section in the store. It wasn't just this big box retail behemoth, it was really linked into our community. I still have my Borders card, for nostalgic purposes! Great memories.

My sister went into the CD department of a local Borders and asked for "Big Band" music. The young customer service rep walked her over to where the symphonies were. "They're big bands, aren't they?"

I knew several of the salesmen who were allowed to run their own departments. One guy was allowed to select great science fiction and horror. The other was well trained music expert. It was great to stop and shop by and listen to music. Also Calendars selling calendars

Borders was such a better bookstore than B&N. The atmosphere was amazing and their selection was such a cut above anything B&N wishes they had. I could always find what I was looking for at Borders, and even stuff I never knew I wanted. B&N just isn't the same at all. I was super upset when my local Borders closed, and the Waldenbooks at the mall too.

I gasped with joy when seeing you uploaded this!!! Growing up I LOVED Borders. We had a local one that was two stories, a nice coffee shop, and Borders always had the BEST stationary section! I remember even getting my backpack once there as a young teen, with matching school supplies of course. And when he could afford it my dad would always buy us a Lindt truffle each to enjoy on the way home. To this day, every time I have to go to a Barnes & Noble I give a sad sigh, thinking about how much cooler it would be to go to Borders. B&N stationary is so much more generic and boring and overpriced.😭💔 RIP Borders. You made my childhood. I was so sad when they closed and I was definitely surprised.

I remember seeing this as the rival bookstore to B & N it’s a shame what happens

I was shocked when Borders started going out of business. In my middle school/high school years, Borders was the place to go for a vast selection of fantasy and sci-fi stuff (as opposed to stocking dozens of copies of a single popular title).

I really miss Borders. It was my favorite place to go as a kid and teen and the hang out spot for me. I loved going in on a Friday night and reading some fiction, some non fiction, some strategy guides, visiting the coffee shop, and buying a book sometimes. Their closing still hurts the most out of my store.

I was a Borders employee for 4-5 years and was there until the very end. While I primarily worked in the cafe, often times helped the book floor when it was needed. I believe in late 2010 and 2011, while most store were closing, many talks of my store and a few others will not be affected with closing. Everything was fine and dandy until the day I came into the work and there were signs all over the windows saying we were closing. During a lot of the company meetings near the liquidation dates of my store, it was mandatory to push those e-readers but as everyone knew, it was too late. Those training on those kobo readers were pretty bad and no one really knew how to use them. Barnes and Noble already had a huge market for them at their stores. I felt like this was one of the biggest reasons of their downfall as noted in the video. What was also bad was, at the start of the liquidation, the day I found out we were going to close was that the cafe was shut down immediately. We had to pour several gallons of milk down the drain, all good food items had to be tossed. Nothing was donated or served while they lasted. Such a shame. I had a great time working there and I had many great memories. Even kept contact with a lot of old coworkers. Just like in the video, every time I drive through my old store and the others in the area, I would often say, that was once a Borders, a great place full of memories.

Somebody who never fully transition to online shopping and still despises the online shopping experience to this day I sincerely miss borders bookstore. I can’t think of a single bad shopping experience I ever had. It’s true their staff was pretty kick ass and knowledgeable in the subjects that they sold

As a kid who would go to Borders every day after school to read and buy manga, I was so sad. I remember the employees told me the late engagement in ebooks was the demise.

I worked at Waldenbooks/Borders Express from 1998-2008. You hit all the important points as far as I can see. No online presence, and shifting from decently paid full time staff to minimum wage part timers. The salaried managers were expected to work 50-60 hours per week (all unpaid overtime) to make up the difference. I got a lot of pressure put on me to take a salaried position, at a whopping 4% raise! Thanks anyway. There was tremendous pressure to upsell every customer and it became clear that the company would rather have employees who could push Lindor balls over ones who could help with book recommendations.

My first "real" job was being a bookseller at Borders in 2005 and 2006, and I can attest that I never took a literature test, and I was only 19 years old and working on my bachelor's degree. I also was technically part time because they didn't want to pay for benefits for me lol but I still worked almost 40 hours a week. Still, I have a lot of fond memories from that job, and when the store I worked at was closed and turned into an Old Navy, it made me a little sad. Thanks for this video! Super interesting, and a fun trip down memory lane

I was a Borders customer until their last store near me closed in early 2012. It took them that long to sell out of everything. i walked out with a lot of manga, because they were genuinely good at keeping up with things in that regard, and they had a very large selection--bigger than any other chain bookstore.

I worked for Borders part-time in around 2008-2009. I was in college at the time and it was my first real job. As personal sellers we were instructed to sell every customer on one of 4 or 5 "books of the month". I think the idea was that they would purchase more of certain new titles in bulk to save on costs and then rely on the employees to push those books. So of course the attractive women who worked there always had 5-10 more books sold per month than anyone else, and this was what they judged our performance on. I said then that the business model was unsustainable and I was proven right. If they had taken the online space more seriously and not been trapped in long-term leases they might have been able to downsize and survive.

The magazine rack at Borders is what brought me in I used to go out of my way to spend hours looking at all the latest magazines. My gosh how media has changed.

I was a Borders devotee back in the day. We went for the last Harry Potter book's release party and it was really fun. I definitely like libraries or book stores better for shopping for books, because you can just look around and read the synopsis of books you might want to buy, plus they just have such a wide variety. I really do miss Borders, but now I go to either Barnes and Noble or Books a Million if there isn't an independent bookstore nearby. The Borders location I went to was across a "stroad" from the Barnes and Noble.

I miss Borders so much. It was the only major book store my town had growing up, when they closed we only had the used bookstors left which was fine exept when you were looking for a new book and had to go to Wal-Mart or Amazon. It was really depressing not having a dedicated new book store anymore.

My local mall had a Waldenbooks and it was the only bookstore within over an hour of me. I bought every single one of the Twilight books there as a cringey preteen and it is one of the few positive memories I still have of those years, that hasn’t faded into the ether. I distinctly remember the feel of that store. When it closed, it took my town a good 5 years for an indie bookstore to crop up and it was rough, having to go in towards the nearest big city for over an hour to go to a bookstore.

Borders was my first post high school job where I worked during my first year at college, from May 2000 to May 2001. It was the one in Murray, Utah, across from the Fashion Place Mall. I adored the customers, and my coworkers, many of which were school teachers. I always closed and there were so many nights me and my coworkers would hangout in the parking lot and just bs for an hour or more. It was such a magical time. I miss Borders.

My first exposure to book stores was visiting Borders, especially my favorite location of theirs in Lower Manhattan. The last time I went to that Borders was on September 7, 2001 and then a few days later it was completely destroyed.

I know of a former Borders location. When they closed down they left some huge letters spelling BORDERS on the back wall. The location was turned into a furniture store, and the new owners took down half the letters and rearranged the others to spell BEDS in the Border's logo font. It was still there the last time I went by that area, an echo of the store's former life.

I worked for Borders from 2008 to 2011 just before they went away. Way too many part timers would be hired or brought back during seasonal or they needed a job for winter/summer break. There were way too many managers, I alone had to answer to 5 people and I was just an inventory specialist/cashier. Also, the environment changed with way too many regular customers coming in daily to read magazines or newspapers without paying. If we didn't have a book or piece of media someone was looking for, we had to use or own website to buy it online. If the customer didn't have a debit/credit card, we had to get them to buy a gift card for the amount the book cost.

I wish you had talked about their expansion internationally. We had Borders here in Australia for a few years - big, prominent stores in prime locations. But then they all closed. I used to shop there.

This is good video. I worked at Borders from 2003-2008 as an inventory supervisor. One thing not mentioned in the video that likely contributed to the decline was the introduction of the Borders Rewards program in early 2006. This program sent out almost weekly coupons by email and also gave 5% rewards credit for purchases. Members could also earn "personal shopping days" that would given them 10% off an entire purchase, and this discount stacked with coupons and rewards credit. Previous to the rewards program, Borders had limited discounts to just best sellers and a small selection of other products. The typical Borders customer was happy to pay full price on everything else given the much better selection and customer service. The Borders Rewards coupons were usually good for 20-50% off one item. This shifted the mentality of the Borders customer at the store I worked at. It wasn't long before a lot of regular customers would only buy stuff when they had a coupon. One of the graphs in this video showed Borders in the red beginning in 2007, which was the year after they launched the rewards program. Also an error. Borders' first eReader was the Sony Reader. They offered that for several years before switching to Kobo.

One thing a borders employee told me was that the company would allow their employees to take books home, and encouraged reading. He led me to some increadibly unique biology books, and had a vast pool of bioligy related sci-fi knowledge to call from. I shopped there until their final day because all of their employees were like that, and I miss it.

In the 90's in Alaska, Borders was one of the best CD stores in town. Their selection was HUGE, and not what you'd automatically expect from a bookstore. I stocked up on punk, metal, new wave, visual kei, TONS of different stuff. 8:04 - Also, that b-roll of people using e-readers is infuriating. It's like watching my parents try to use an iPad.

I worked at Borders from 2005 to their closing date in 2011 and you completely nailed it. Terrible online management, kobo e-reader that was subpar, investing in cds/DVDs that no one bought, but when they made all non-management part-time, it was the beginning of the end.

Definitely the best selection, especially for technical books. I never felt "dumbed-down to" or patronized in a Borders. Excellent magazine selection as well.

This was my favorite store growing up. The day my mom told me it was going out of business is a core memory. I was distraught. I loved the books, but an equally big draw for me were the space carpets in the children’s section. I had a solar system kit from there that hung on my ceiling all through my childhood. Barnes & Noble took over our location and kept the carpet, but it was never the same… 😞

True story: I worked at a Borders Cafe in my late teens. It was a total free-for-all. Cafe managers could basically sell whatever they thought would make them money. My most vivid memory is the “fajitas” we sold from the bake case. Our “fajitas” were deli meat, American cheese slices, lettuce and mayo wrapped in a big flour tortilla. They would sit in that case, pre-made for days at a time. Yum. And yes, they were labeled as fajitas. For real. 😢

I'm from Puerto Rico and I remember the Borders they had at Plaza Las Americas (a popular mall located in San Juan). I would go almost every Sunday there with my dad. He would go to find his books and I would always be looking for either comics or manga. The place was huge, and had a wide variety of titles. I remember they also had live music on occasions. Due to being at the mall, the place was always packed. Since we used to go on Sunday mornings, the store was quietter, and we sort of befriended an older gentlemen, from the States , that would go to get his copy of the New York Times. The staff there was friendly as well and one woman in particular always recognized us as were regulars of sorts. Watching this video makes me think of the staff and the people I stumbled upon at the store and wonder what became of them after its closing. The store to me always had a unique vibe, which will never be matched by any other book chain.

I worked at Borders in 2001 and if we didn’t have a book, cd or dvd our managers told us to direct people to find them on Amazon and I never got why we weren’t using our own site it seemed like a huge mistake.

There's a Books A Million in my hometown where Borders used to be, and it just isn't the same. The selection isn't as good and the prices are all marked up. The only real upside to Borders closing was that it got me to start looking for independent booksellers, and I found some real gems in my area. I still miss Borders though.

So crazy how when a store goes out of business so many people forget about it

I started shopping for manga at Borders in 2008. And even though CDs and graphic novels were my main reasons for going there, it did spark an interest in bookstores in general that persists well into adulthood. The Borders I went to was a decent yet short bike ride away from my house at the time, located in a fairly urban area at a very busy intersection. There was always a crowd. And I was still going there semi-regularly up until they closed in summer 2011 (I had also applied for a job there just a month or so earlier, not realizing the writing was on the wall at that point). The closest Barnes and Noble to me is roughly a 20-30 minute drive. The intersection is still very busy today, with lots of new stores and condominiums, as well as a fairly nice independent bookstore just down the street. The building which housed Borders, however, remains empty and unused, with the store's hours and "Borders is a smoke-free environment" messages still on the door. In the windows you can still see the shelves where new titles and products were frequently displayed. It's like looking at the ruins of an empire.

Mom and I used to go to Border's AND Barnes & Noble EVERY weekend! We both used to find books that we liked and I found old tv shows from the 70's on DVD for the first time! I saw them on TV Land first and got hooked! Then whatever we couldn't find at Border's, we just went to Barnes & Noble with was literally just a block away! It was a fun bonding experience with my mom and I miss it! This was I think 2007-2010 somewhere in there.

I have two lasting memories with customer service at Borders: I asked a young woman where I would find “Alice in Wonderland”. She had an American accent so I’m assuming she was either American or grew up in America but she had apparently never heard of the book and thought I was asking her about “Alison Wonderland.” Another time I had to special order a book titled “World of Faery” and when I came back to see if it had arrived I saw it waiting on the shelf behind the register. I let the employee know why I was there and tried to tell her the name of the book but she turned around before I could finish, looked at the shelf, then told me they didn’t have “World Affairs”.

My son and I lived in Borders on Saturday afternoons. They had everything! So sad what happened. I was hoping they would get rescued and make a comeback but no. My son was 13 when Borders closed. When he saw the location we went to was closing he got pretty upset.

In the mid 1990's through to early 2000/2001, there was a Borders book shop near the Dadeland Metro Station in Miami. I loved this one book shop. It had book selections that you would never find anywhere else, or in any other book shop in the city. I spent an inordinate amount of time in this shop. I still have my set of books that are collectibles now, in my library. To this day, none of the books I had purchased there, are available anywhere online. This was a very popular book shop, until they shut down.

... Borders' closure still hurts me to this day. everything was going well in the world when Borders and Walden Books were still around. if only they could rise again, like Toys R Us did.

I loved Borders. Their clearance section was THE BEST! I always found something I'd never thought to look for. I still have a few Borders bags, and a few of the books I'd gotten there still have the receipts to use as bookmarks. (My to be read pile is HUGE.) When they closed, we purchased some of the bookcases, so my library looks a little like an old Borders store.

I was a cafe manager for Borders in 1997-1999. When Amazon debuted, we immediately knew Borders would not survive, particularly with their half-baked attempt at being online. Oh, and most of the staff was part-time, although their book knowledge was indeed fantastic.

Hey, Company Man. You should do a video on the decline of A&P (The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company). The supermarket went defunct in 2015 after they filed for bankruptcy. I want to know what happened to A&P and what led to their eventual bankruptcy.

I moved into a community that had Border's, Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton's, and Waldenbooks. I enjoyed the size of Borders, but starting around 2006-2007, the store changed their shelving layout, and nearly 1/3 of their book inventory disappeared. They also removed the helpful kiosks that allowed you to search for the book and order it. Eventually I knew the bookstore better than the employees, who were eventually cut to part time, increasing the rates of turnover. Eventually, it was not unusual for me to provide assistance with finding books at a rate of once per trip, and occassionally even employees were surprised at my knowledge as I answered questions that they were not equipped for. The changes decreased my enjoymentvof the bookstore, and I gradually started shopping in the used bookstores in my community. When it was announced that Borders was closing, I was saddened but not surprised. Thankfully, as our store was slightly larger than average, Books-A-Million decided to acquire the space, and upon meeting the manager by happenstance, I mentioned my disappointment with the layout and decreased selections from Borders. I was promptly reassured that BAM had been appalled by the wasted floor space and was planning to make significant changes to increase the number of books. I do not enter the store as often as I like, the prices do run higher than my budget often allows, but I will stop in a few times a year and will spend at least a few dollars here and there. I still miss Borders at their best.

I just remembered these stores existed... wild. Had no idea they were gone.

I miss Borders. It was a bookstore that catered to everyone: kids, seniors, adults, vinyl dudes, and did it well.

We lived in Ann Arbor at the time of the first Borders bookstore. Before the store grew into a mega chain, we used to brag about how Borders was so fantastic because in their store they had over 200,000 titles. Browsing the titles in Borders was something special.

In its final years, I definitely had some customer service issues. On a few occassions I had issues with coupons or discounts not being honored. That really pushed me toward spending more dollars at Barnes and Noble.

I always preferred Borders and Waldenbooks as a kid. In college when I had very little money I would go in once every couple weeks with a 30-40% off coupon and get a single book to read at the nearby mall. In high school when I had a part time job and no bills a couple times a year I would go out to the big Borders and do those buy 3 or 4 get 1 free deals on manga and spend 150$ and go home with 2 massive bags of manga and a couple books with it. I probably still have my borders card. Miss it so much.

I was heartbroken when Borders went out of business and two thirds of our local bookstores simply disappeared. I love B&N, but I'll always miss Borders.😭

My husband & I used to go to Borders a lot. They had a great selection of books. When we had a kid, we enjoyed the kids section at Borders as well. Edgy magazines and cool music way back when. We were kind of shocked when it closed (but B&N stayed in business) cuz we loved Borders so much more. Now there’s a Planet Fitness in that space…

My city had two Borders stores. The first one was in a mall and was always busy. A friend of mine worked at that store and from what I understand they did maintain the full time college educated book worm employees only up to the last day. The other store was in a bad location and was always empty, They clearly hadn't done their homework on the area. Because while it was "close" to a good area, In my town you can cross a street and find yourself on the wrong side of the tracks. On the last day of the sale they ran out of bags and were selling the baskets for a dollar each. I still have the one I bought.

Borders was where I discovered and bought my first CD single! The US version of Green Day's American Idiot CD Single ("American Idiot" with "Too Much Too Soon"). Kicked off a hobby I still partake in to this day!

I used to shop at Borders a lot!

Brilliant work. You are an elite RU-vidr! One of my favorites. I discovered borders when it was in its later days. The store I went to was visibly in trouble. I’m noticed a drop in inventory and knew their days were numbered.

That part about Borders having “that book” is so true, I found a line of a new author’s book on a shelf that were all signed with a thank you and never found it again after it the locations near me died. I vaguely remember it had a pink cover with a donkey guy hugging someone. It was about that guy turning into a donkey man. At least that’s what I recall from the first few chapters I read. Big shame that it went under, I miss it dearly.

I really miss Borders and bought a huge stack of cds and some books at their Ann Arbor store in 2011. I remember they really did stock odd items, like Dover editions to music scores which I bought and studied as a young pianist/bassoonist and the CD selection for classical was always better than B&N, they stocked the best new classical selections and had a huge selection of NAXOS labeled cds, many of which I still have today. And yes, there are 3 stores I pass and say "yes, that used to be a Borders".

I remember taking a picture of my local one shutting down. Can't believe it's already over 10 years now.

Toward the end, Borders prioritized hiring people with retail experience from other non-book stores over people who knew anything about books. They preferred to hire ignorant register drones over book lovers. I recall regularly asking register workers about basic book gossip and trends. I would only get blank stares because they had no idea what I was talking about.

The biggest problem with Borders for me is similar to that of Barnes and Noble, is that books that they charged $35 for I was able to get for $10 at Strand bookstore located on 11th Street in Manhattan. Also, pricing either direct or through Amazon is much lower, too. Moreover, I do not think people read as often as we once did because of the cell phones and because of a reduction of leisure time.

I never visited a Borders store, there weren't any in my area, but my local mall always had a Waldenbooks, and it was my favorite place to visit as a kid/teen. Quiet and cozy, and I could just relax and read as I wished. I was heartbroken when they closed down, and the worst part was that it was immediately replaced by an Apple store, which could not be more different

We were Borders people. When my mother was working on her degree, her and I would go to borders, sit in the cafe and do homework together. Most of my paperbacks I still have today were bought at Borders. Barnes and Noble never had the same vibe that we liked. It always felt stuffy and pretentious.

Borders actually still exists in the Middle East, with the UAE having the most locations. Some locations even have a Starbucks, with other locations being an “Express” version that’s more scaled down than their other locations. They do offer books, but they also offer toys and stationery. Some locations would not even have a magazine section. They also have a location in Oman as well, but I never visited. What’s really crazy is that their location in Kuwait doesn’t even offer books, just toys and stationery!

"Can you see any Borders from up here? What has Borders given us? Books? No. I'll have to destroy them all, reset everything to zero. That is what V2 is for!" - Solo Wing Pixy

I recall reading an interview with Larry Correia, who is an accomplished writer himself. He stated that he had such a horrible time dealing with borders, that he would rather hang out at mom and Pop shops to sign his book then go to Barnes and Noble, as opposed to having a book signing at borders. Larry stated that at one Borders location, a manager did not want him to sign any books, because “if you signed them, we can’t return them to the manufacture as new“

I remember shopping here and you are right I could always find something obscure here. I didn't realize that that was a part of their market plan. I do also remember shopping their liquidation sale and remember that Boarders had become something like what Barns and Noble is now. A place primarily for books but had a bunch of other stuff non book related. For example I bought my son a soft baby blanket there and my daughter a board game.

I have a piece of Borders in my house! When they all shut down and cleared out their stores, I bought one of their bookshelves for $40. It's solid wood and very sturdy, still holding up great all these years later through several moves, long after Borders is gone.

There was a Borders bookstore at a mall/town center near me. I loved the two levels of variety and selection I was able to find as a kid. It remains a childhood memory for me. I also enjoyed finding obscure books compared to Barnes & Noble. I only stopped being a customer when after seeing the store’s signage being taken down from the location.