Above a recent front page article (BORDERS PLUGS IN MEDIA-MIX IDEAS) in the Ann Arbor News is the following quote:
‘We wanted to build something compelling
enough to make a customer drive five or 10
minutes past a competitor’s store to get here.’
George Jones, chief executive officer of Borders
Yikes. Was this, like, a challenge of some kind? I exit the parking ramp near my bookstore and nervously time the trip to the New Borders. I obey all the street signals and stay inside the speed limit. The road is clear, the traffic light.
Total travel time: 11 minutes, 50 seconds. Thank goodness I’m outside the retail competition death-ray perimeter!
The New Borders is located next to Kohl’s Department Store, Linens n Things and a Best Buy. In the event that people get hungry while shopping, McDonalds, Fridays and Joe’s Crab Shack are conveniently located across the street or directly adjacent to the strip mall. Most importantly, parking is free. This is a shopper’s paradise.
A few days ago, one of the managers at the Borders flagship store (which is just around the corner from my store) gave me a nicely designed invitation to the grand opening of “a completely new Borders experience. A new Borders like never before…with new products and services for a digital lifestyle that’s beckoning you.”
I don’t feel as if I’ve been resisting the siren call of the digital lifestyle. Mostly I’ve just been preoccupied with other things. I’d be the first to admit that I might be missing something pretty special, but I do need a nudge in that direction now and then.
Given my inflated set of expectations (from reading too many sci fi novels), I probably set myself up to be slightly disappointed when I enter the New Borders. It just doesn’t feel that New to me. The Digital Lifestyle section, toward the center right of the store next to the CDs and DVDs, is rather small, but customers can create their own photo books, download music and audiobooks to MP3 players, burn CDs, create a digital family tree, publish a memoir or purchase a digital photo frame there. The sign says DIGITAL--We’ll Show You How.
In addition to the Digital Center, there are five “themed destination sections” (travel, cooking, wellness, graphic novels and childrens) in the 28,900 ft. store. The events area is at the back left, behind the Romance section, and features a Long Pen device that enables virtual signings.
I notice that there are many more non book items for sale here than there are in the other Borders stores. In the travel section I can purchase a passport travel wallet and luggage tags. The health section has yoga and Pilates stuff. I see a spa microfiber hairband that looks intriguing. There is lots of Easter candy and minibar chocolates for sale near the cash registers.
All of this looks like lots of fun, but it obscures the fact that the title base looks rather thin. In fact, I’d say the Borders flagship store has a wider selection of books, music CDs, DVDs and magazines than the New Borders.
The store signage and lighting are excellent.
The shelves in the center of the store are low, which gives the place a kind of cavernous feel, but the sight lines are open from the front all the way to the back wall, and folks at the cash registers and the floor staff can easily scan for potential shoplifters. Customers pass through magnetized arches before they enter the restrooms. Security is good.
The staff wears those Bluetooth phone devices that appear to be stapled to their ears, which gives them a vaguely military look. It’s sort of cool, but a bit menacing.
There are big television screens, like in a Sports Bar. I had assumed up until this moment that bookstores were some of the last public spaces that haven’t yet embraced sensory overload, and I find this irritating and distracting. But maybe it’s a generational thing.
Still, I’d give Mr. Jones an A- for effort. All of us should be trying to develop better bookstores. And the final product—the New Borders? Let’s just say it’s not my thing. What I look for when I enter a bookshop is a deep and diverse title base of books. I like bookshops where it is immediately evident that there is a central organizing intelligence behind the store selection. I like bookshops with a point of view--as opposed to a Lifestyle.
But what do I know? When I describe the store to my youngest daughter, she says, “Dad, this is what everybody wants!” She uses a tone of voice with me that implies this is apparent to everyone but you.
Actually, I don’t think this is what everyone wants, although many people probably see the book business as a subset of the American Entertainment Industry. I love popular culture in America, but I know it for what it is. The book business, or at least the sector of it I’m interested in, represents something that is quieter than popular culture. It is also infinitely more interesting and challenging.
‘We wanted to build something compelling
enough to make a customer drive five or 10
minutes past a competitor’s store to get here.’
George Jones, chief executive officer of Borders
Yikes. Was this, like, a challenge of some kind? I exit the parking ramp near my bookstore and nervously time the trip to the New Borders. I obey all the street signals and stay inside the speed limit. The road is clear, the traffic light.
Total travel time: 11 minutes, 50 seconds. Thank goodness I’m outside the retail competition death-ray perimeter!
The New Borders is located next to Kohl’s Department Store, Linens n Things and a Best Buy. In the event that people get hungry while shopping, McDonalds, Fridays and Joe’s Crab Shack are conveniently located across the street or directly adjacent to the strip mall. Most importantly, parking is free. This is a shopper’s paradise.
A few days ago, one of the managers at the Borders flagship store (which is just around the corner from my store) gave me a nicely designed invitation to the grand opening of “a completely new Borders experience. A new Borders like never before…with new products and services for a digital lifestyle that’s beckoning you.”
I don’t feel as if I’ve been resisting the siren call of the digital lifestyle. Mostly I’ve just been preoccupied with other things. I’d be the first to admit that I might be missing something pretty special, but I do need a nudge in that direction now and then.
Given my inflated set of expectations (from reading too many sci fi novels), I probably set myself up to be slightly disappointed when I enter the New Borders. It just doesn’t feel that New to me. The Digital Lifestyle section, toward the center right of the store next to the CDs and DVDs, is rather small, but customers can create their own photo books, download music and audiobooks to MP3 players, burn CDs, create a digital family tree, publish a memoir or purchase a digital photo frame there. The sign says DIGITAL--We’ll Show You How.
In addition to the Digital Center, there are five “themed destination sections” (travel, cooking, wellness, graphic novels and childrens) in the 28,900 ft. store. The events area is at the back left, behind the Romance section, and features a Long Pen device that enables virtual signings.
I notice that there are many more non book items for sale here than there are in the other Borders stores. In the travel section I can purchase a passport travel wallet and luggage tags. The health section has yoga and Pilates stuff. I see a spa microfiber hairband that looks intriguing. There is lots of Easter candy and minibar chocolates for sale near the cash registers.
All of this looks like lots of fun, but it obscures the fact that the title base looks rather thin. In fact, I’d say the Borders flagship store has a wider selection of books, music CDs, DVDs and magazines than the New Borders.
The store signage and lighting are excellent.
The shelves in the center of the store are low, which gives the place a kind of cavernous feel, but the sight lines are open from the front all the way to the back wall, and folks at the cash registers and the floor staff can easily scan for potential shoplifters. Customers pass through magnetized arches before they enter the restrooms. Security is good.
The staff wears those Bluetooth phone devices that appear to be stapled to their ears, which gives them a vaguely military look. It’s sort of cool, but a bit menacing.
There are big television screens, like in a Sports Bar. I had assumed up until this moment that bookstores were some of the last public spaces that haven’t yet embraced sensory overload, and I find this irritating and distracting. But maybe it’s a generational thing.
Still, I’d give Mr. Jones an A- for effort. All of us should be trying to develop better bookstores. And the final product—the New Borders? Let’s just say it’s not my thing. What I look for when I enter a bookshop is a deep and diverse title base of books. I like bookshops where it is immediately evident that there is a central organizing intelligence behind the store selection. I like bookshops with a point of view--as opposed to a Lifestyle.
But what do I know? When I describe the store to my youngest daughter, she says, “Dad, this is what everybody wants!” She uses a tone of voice with me that implies this is apparent to everyone but you.
Actually, I don’t think this is what everyone wants, although many people probably see the book business as a subset of the American Entertainment Industry. I love popular culture in America, but I know it for what it is. The book business, or at least the sector of it I’m interested in, represents something that is quieter than popular culture. It is also infinitely more interesting and challenging.
2 comments:
i enjoyed your review...it made me smile.
the sense i got was captured in one line about midway through:
'The store signage and lighting are excellent'
thanks.
Where were the robots? And did you get that intriguing microfiber spa hair band? Inquiring minds want to know!
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