Borders UK calls in Administrators

lemonjelly

lostinrates wrote: »

Books about terrible childhoods seem to do well. (blame the parents generation?). Terribly depressing. Could't agree more about impact on culture.

It was a while ago, but I recall going into a waterstones. You knowhow they have their sections, with the labels at the top of their bookcases? Well I was looking around, & noticed one section titled "painful lives". My heart sank. Generally, I find such books quite pointless, almost trash. It seems to be a marketting thing that has been cashed in on.

I'm thinking of launching a counter-book, titled "Daddy never f****d me & mommy never beat me. Turned out ok".

Agree about the ghost written celeb author trash too!

nightwatchman

I no longer buy books from major book stores.
The last 7-10 years I roam around the charity shops & get what I like for £1.50 max.
If it’s a specific title I am after I have to wait for years until I find it.
However I hardly have any spare time to take a breathe not to mention reading, so time for me is not an issue.
I am looking forward to the day I retire (if I ever manage it) so as I could get my hands on the books I have manage to accumulate over time & never manage to read.
Up to the age of 25 I was use to read one book per week, now I hardly manage to read one per year.

lucystardust

I'm going to miss the big Borders we have in Cambridge, it was so handy for browsing and had a great selection. I went in yesterday and it was chaos with the closing down sale, people were taking as many books as they could carry to the till. The shelves were getting a bit bare already, and the staff were flat out because the queue went half way through the shop. I felt sorry for them that in their final weeks in the job they're going to have to work their asses off with the madness of the closing down sale!

worldtraveller

lucystardust wrote: »

The shelves were getting a bit bare already, and the staff were flat out because the queue went half way through the shop. I felt sorry for them that in their final weeks in the job they're going to have to work their asses off with the madness of the closing down sale!

I believe that HMV, which owns Waterstones, may be interested in some of the stores and there may be some interest elsewhere, so hopefully some of them, at least, will keep their jobs.

tommy75

Starbucks are in alot of Borders stores arn't they? Never had a coffee from there, is it good stuff?

lostinrates

vivatifosi wrote: »

This goes to the heart of my point about people knowing how to use the library and what to expect. I don't know Guildford Library,.

a long time ago I had cause to use libraries in Surrey. I only vaguely remember Guildford library TBH, but Dorking library, though smaller was excellent, had a performing arts bit ..videos, music etc, long before was more common.

Our library is open two mornings a week, there is actually a nother open a different morning of the week. Both have ''letter boxes'' for return of books in between times, but they cater for more the Mills and Boon type reader...of course you can use inter library loans but again, thats the too much choice thing for me. When I was an academic occasionally, poor planning would lead me to my parents home with not the right journals/abstracts and my local library were far more efficient than the university libraries (three differnt universities) I was using at the time! I think they liked having something different.

DH also used a another local library while he was a student. a lot of people used it for job hunting and internet access and just to keep warm inside, or be out of their own places to live through the day which gave it a sorry feel, but a good degree of usage, whoch really is what is important.

Arcaine

I live by the Orbital in Swindon, they had a large Borders there, until it closed a few months ago and was replaced by a New Look. It is a shame, the kids section was great and on many occasions I would walk there with my son to buy a book for bedtime on a Saturday. The closing down sale was carnage though but I did manage to get all the Harry Potter books half price.

I do think this is a sign of things to come on the highstreet, people are spending more and more online and I think shops and town centres are going to have to work a lot harder to win the business. The simple truth is they cannot compete on price alone so they well have to compete on other fronts.

chloe_87_87

Hello All!

I made an order on Borders on the 19th November and received an email from they stating that 'You will shortly receive a further email confirming the full details of your order' I never received this second email confirming the full details of my order yet they still had the cheek to take the money on the 24th. Is it worth emailing the administrators and asking what will happen to my order?
The only reason i ordered with them is so i could get some Virgin Flying Club miles as you dont get them from ordering things from Amazon!

lemonjelly

Given the discussions about libraries on here, thought I'd add this (especially interested to learn viva's point of view on it)
http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/media_releases/6490.aspx

Yes, I know it's Margaret Hodge, but it is her responsibility right now (worrying as that is).

It seems to me that there are vast swathes of the populace completely unaware of the benefits of libraries.

At the same time, I feel there is so much more that a library can do to make it an essential part of their local community.

Any thoughts anyone?

kennyboy66_2

lemonjelly wrote: »

Given the discussions about libraries on here, thought I'd add this (especially interested to learn viva's point of view on it)
http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/media_releases/6490.aspx

Yes, I know it's Margaret Hodge, but it is her responsibility right now (worrying as that is).

It seems to me that there are vast swathes of the populace completely unaware of the benefits of libraries.

At the same time, I feel there is so much more that a library can do to make it an essential part of their local community.

Any thoughts anyone?

http://www.virtualtours360.net/vtupload/liverpool/centrallibrary/centrallibrary.html

This is what a great city Library should be like.

Accross the water Wirral (Lab / Lib Dem) council were planning to close half their libraries until Culture Secretary stopped it.