Borders' demise: Why the book chains are doomed

John Birmingham in the Sydney Morning Herald, 17 February, 2011

So, Borders have finally gone under, here as well as in the US. Taking Angus and Robertson with them, and Whitcoulls in New Zealand. I am actually sorry to see them go, even though they haven’t been the stores they used to be for a long time.

A lot of people in publishing and bookselling hated Borders for the obvious reason. They came stomping into a market, often crushing independent bookstores under foot, and applying a mass production sensibility to something which had once been a bit of a cottage industry.

All true. And yet I didn’t mind Borders because, in the old days at least, they carried some amazing backlist. In the early days of that chain it was possible to wander in off the street and find whatever you wanted somewhere along the miles of shelving they maintained. They may have only kept two or three copies of backlist titles, but at least they kept them. Along with thousands of obscure titles you weren’t going to find in other chains, or at the independents, which simply could not hold that much stock.

I’m not sure when this situation changed, but I was aware during my last book tour – what, 18 months ago? – that everything had changed. I’ve done enough touring over the years that I’m allowed out on my own without a publicist these days. A lot of the grunt work of book touring, for instance ringing up bookstores and arranging visits, I would do for myself.

I remember very clearly being told, on the quiet, at the start of my last tour not to bother wasting my time visiting Borders. Some of them, franchises I think, were OK. But the chain as a whole run by Redgroup was considered to be toxic. Poor old Angus and Robertson, also caught up with the same venture capital smartarses, was even worse.

I’m not sure whether you’ve been into an A&R store the last couple of years. Jesus, talk about depressing. They became giant dump bins for failed remainder copies imported directly from the US. Shit books by no-name authors, poorly printed on cheap stock.

So, what does this all mean?

Well, people will still buy books. It may hasten the acceleration towards electronic books which is already underway. It may shore up the position of the surviving chains, particularly well-run operations like Dymocks. What I would like to think might happen is something I’ve been predicting for a while. That we start to see something of a renaissance in the independent bookshop sector.
Rest of story at Sydney Morning Herald.