Is closing for good Dec. 31. Lots of good deals--50% off. The store in Downers Grove is also closing.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: NeighborLady,

B&N Town Square....where is that?

My daughter loves that store!

That's one of the smallest B&N's around; I wonder if they're going to build a free standing store elsewhere. B&N isn't doing that badly, not compared to Borders. Both chains have shuttered their mall stores (the B. Dalton and Walden brands), which just makes sense as mall traffic has been down for years. But B&N just rolled out the Nook and is retrofitting a lot of their stores to feature it (the one in Oak Brook is an example). So I wouldn't be surprised to find out later they build a larger store in Wheaton. (When they shut the store in Oak Brook down, the one that used to be across the street from the mall, that's what happened; they moved into the larger former Eddie Bauer space.)

Now, Borders - I'm surprised they're still around at all. Most people thought they'd be dead by the end of this year, but they're still hanging on. But that's a result of poor business decisions in the past years, not any indication of the book buying business. Retail as a whole is down and book sales reflect that but overall, they're holding up a bit better than most other retail sectors. EBooks seem to dominate the news but they're still less than 10% of all books sold. Some independents - like Anderson's Bookshop - are doing surprisingly well in this climate, better than the chains.

I got a couple of great bargains there last week. One was a hardback book I really enjoyed but gave away.
It was on the bargain rack for $7 and was 50% off of that, so I was able to buy another copy for $3.50.

At least Borders has a deep selection. B&N (and Borders own Waldenbooks) were always filled with crappy, shallow stuff.

But even with B's deep selection, I must say I no longer buy books in person. It just makes no sense with Amazon able to get me a book within a day or day for at least 20% off -- and with no tax.

I realize the markup on most books is 40% -- but it always surprised me that Borders made no effort to at least come close to Amazon in terms of price. No, they don't have the volume of sales -- and no they don't have the selection -- but good god the Borders brothers always seemed smarter than that. I guess not.

So it goes.

Borders on Michigan Ave. *is* closing, though. But I was never too impressed with standing in long, long lines no matter what time of year it was. Seems like they coulda gotten a lot more $$$ if they had clerks walking around with those wireless credit card swipers instead of the old school model of five clerks at a front desk always wanting your email address or wondering if I wanted to join yet another lame savings club.

Lots of B&M retailers don't get it -- and then we're supposed to be shocked or saddened when they get tromped by the internet juggernauts?

Never have understood why anyone would step foot into that place unless it was to write down titles or peruse books to buy on Amazon.

I buy a lot of cookbooks and such to read. Something that might cost $50, $60....$70 at Barnes can be had....maybe used, maybe new....for $20 at an Amazon reseller. If it is used...I care not. Obviously, if it is a gift, you would want new. But Amazon is really cheap for new stuff. Used to be that I would get excited to get 10 percent off if it was on the NYT bestsellers list. Now I get excited not going anywhere near Barnes or Borders.

Borders on Michigan Ave. extended their lease for another year so they'll still be around.

What people don't realize is that Amazon takes a loss on a lot of items - like most books that are deeply discounted - and make up for it selling other stuff. Bookstores can't afford to do that, of course; they don't sell other stuff. I truly fear - as do most people in my profession - that with the loss leading mentality Amazon, Walmart.com and Target.com are taking toward books, they will end up being so devalued in our society. It's not a future I look forward to, personally. I think books are worth something, and the cost for most of them is not extraordinary when you think of what they provide for years and years. (At least, they do for me; I'm a huge re-reader of my books.). Profit margins for books are very narrow; there are a lot of unseen costs - much more than just the paper - that go into them. If Amazon gets its way and forces publishers to lower the price to them, there will be a lot fewer books published, a lot of authors' careers demolished, a lot of publishers going out of business. Of course no industry is perfect and publishing has made its mistakes and can continue to look for ways to control some costs. But at the end of the day you still have to pay authors, editors, copy editors, marketing people, publicity people, cover designers...as I said, there are a lot of people involved in the making of each book.

Don't get me started on used books. That's another argument. But I don't see a dime off used book sales, and surprisingly, not all used books were ever sold at full cost in the first place. (Many are bought in bulk when the publisher decides to remainder a book, and then sold used. Again - I don't see a dime from that.) So there's not much in it for me and of course, I would like to get paid for what I do.

Borders made a lot of bad decisions, unlucky decisions - like getting heavily into the music business just when downloads started to take over from CDs. That's one big reason for their troubles right now; mismanagement is another. B&N makes much smarter business decisions, or at least they have. (How the Nook turns out remains to be seen.)

But I do agree that the Town Square store was just kind of an afterthought, really; so small, the stock so thin. Borders, though, keeps reducing the amount of books it sells. Has anyone else noticed that? Every time I walk into that Borders in Wheaton it seems to me another book shelf has been replaced by a crappy gift & toy section.

Ah, well. But remember, everyone, come January 12th when my book comes out, don't let that B&N closing deter you from buying it! It'll be at lots of other bookstores!

I understand that in addition to Barnes and Noble, Williams Sonoma is also leaving Town Square due to the fact that Town Square is now requiring a ten year lease on their stores. Are they shooting themselves in the foot?

Clever idea back when to carve that thing out of nothing, but I cannot remember the last time I went there...maybe to Papyrus to buy some cards...until I found out that Caribou Coffee carries Papyrus cards on a little rack by the condiment stand.

I will be sad when it's gone. It was definitely my go to bookstore (sorry Bookstore in downtown GE). Even though it was small, it always had what I needed, since what I needed never included wifi, a place to work, coffee and treats, music, dvds, games, knick knacks - etc. etc.

It helps that I am in Towne Square often though (I get my hair cut there and it's close to my office)

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
Never have understood why anyone would step foot into that place

I buy a lot of cookbooks

They also sell books on dieting and exercise! Some even have lots and lots of pictures! May want to get in there with your pen and notepad.

LOL

I hate you.

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
the last time I went there...maybe to Papyrus to buy some cards

I actually shop at Town Square quite a lot; it's convenient and most of those stores you'd have to drive to either Oak Brook or Naperville to find. (Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, Talbots, White House/Black Market, the B&N, Williams & Sonoma.) But they are smaller stores compared to the ones in those places, that's for sure.

I go in Williams and Sonoma once a year to buy mulling spices. So I don't think I'll miss that particular store.

But in this particular retail climate, why on earth would a landlord require a store to sign a 10-year-lease? That's ridiculous.

quote:

Originally posted by scribbler:

But in this particular retail climate, why on earth would a landlord require a store to sign a 10-year-lease? That's ridiculous.

Sometimes the tenant wants a long term lease, especially if they are making major capital improvements to the property. Who wants to invest their cash if they feel they can easily booted at the end of 3 or 5 years?!

Also, tenants always ask for stuff (free rent, help with the build out. . . . ect.) The only way to off-set this is a longe term lease.

Most commercial leases are 5 years with a five year option (i.e. your ten years)

In this climate (as Scribbler said), even for a retailer, it doesn't make sense to sign a lease that long. Especially if it's a smaller company. If it's a corporate firm and the cost to break the lease has been weighed out, I can understand....but other than that it doesn't make any sense. I don't know, perhaps I'm of the old-school "mom and pop" mentality, though.

I'm not sure how many retailers can confidently predict they'll be around for another 10 years right now. I'd imagine even the big corporate chains, like Gap, would be thinking very carefully about renewing leases with this stipulation.

The edit changed the gist and position of my post. I believe it was a bit to aggressive towards the current administration and apparently was looked at disapprovingly by Mr. Ted.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GEM,

Yes, but GEM that's a whole lot more difficult for a small company to do than it is for a large corporation. Even some of them have a difficult time with it. If the profit margin is already small, it's incredibly difficult to lower pricing and still cover overhead costs....not to mention making some form of profit. In addition, smaller work forces are generally the staple of smaller firms. There's only so small a work force can be before things like service and quality disintegrate....both are things that can make or break you in retail.

quote:

And quite possibly writing much more favorable leases in "this economy". They may be able to get a much better deal now and ride out the wave until things pick up.

Yes, they "may" be able to....but for a company that's already financially struggling, the combination of decreased available lending, increased debt, and decreased working capital is oftentimes too much for a company to take. Hence the large amount of door-closings currently seen.

I agree with you that it's just a downturn and will pick up again, but many companies (similar to many consumers) don't have the resources to ride it out.

One thing hurting most retailers in this economy is the online shopper.This hurts the retailers and the trickle down effects everyone sooner or later.