Xanda Pilley of Overland Park browses the young adult section at Shawnee Books & Toys, which opened in the former Borders Express location.
At many former Borders locations, rubber Sarah Palin masks now hang where bestsellers were once thumbed through.
The liquidation of the chain earlier this year didn’t portend well for those who wanted to do their book shopping away from the computer or tablet. Not so for Shawnee shoppers.
Shawnee Books & Toys — one of six bookstores owned by a family in Jefferson City, Mo. — recently opened its doors at the former Borders Express, 7311 Quivira Road. That’s a new bookstore standing where one was taken away.
The old signs still hang on the building, one half-removed. A banner with the new store’s logo will soon be replaced by a more permanent affixation, although remnants of the former chain remain: All eight of the store’s employees are from Borders, four previously worked in Shawnee.
Michelle Ranney, the store’s manager, spent four years with Borders in Olathe, Overland Park and, finally, Lees Summit, Mo. She said she stayed through the chain’s liquidation process, seeing firsthand the effects of a bookstore’s closure in a community.
“Those were the one’s that would make you cry: the teenagers that would come in that had been coming to the store for like 10 years and be like, ‘this is my home,’” Ranney said.
Full piece at Shawnee Express
The liquidation of the chain earlier this year didn’t portend well for those who wanted to do their book shopping away from the computer or tablet. Not so for Shawnee shoppers.
Shawnee Books & Toys — one of six bookstores owned by a family in Jefferson City, Mo. — recently opened its doors at the former Borders Express, 7311 Quivira Road. That’s a new bookstore standing where one was taken away.
The old signs still hang on the building, one half-removed. A banner with the new store’s logo will soon be replaced by a more permanent affixation, although remnants of the former chain remain: All eight of the store’s employees are from Borders, four previously worked in Shawnee.
Michelle Ranney, the store’s manager, spent four years with Borders in Olathe, Overland Park and, finally, Lees Summit, Mo. She said she stayed through the chain’s liquidation process, seeing firsthand the effects of a bookstore’s closure in a community.
“Those were the one’s that would make you cry: the teenagers that would come in that had been coming to the store for like 10 years and be like, ‘this is my home,’” Ranney said.
Full piece at Shawnee Express
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