fuck chain bookstores

i know this all sounds very reactionary. i guess i'm having a curmudgeonly moment.

sales guy: we're showing this in our computer, but none of our stores have it. i guess it hasn't been released yet.
me: i'm pretty sure it's been released.
sales guy: well, if we don't have it, it probably means the publisher is late in putting it out.
me: are you sure your buyer just didn't buy it?
sales guy: [blank expression]

Join us. We are not strong in numbers, but we are invincible in our peevishness.

i buy most books online, but then i buy a lot of philosophy books and even the selection at most independent stores is a joke. it's too bad because browsing philosophy sections is a good way to find cool books.

granted there are some really good used bookstores in chicago, and those can be fun to browse, but if you need a book that's been just published.

i managed to avoid worrying about this for a long time because i had access to university libraries and never bought books, basically.

anyway i related that conversation because it reminds me of the "totalizing" quality of the chain-store experience ... as in "our store = Book Store" and "we don't carry it = it doesn't exist/doesn't matter." how border's and barnes and noble are totally bleached of any idiosyncrasy, so everyone can feel at home in the Book Store.

i know these are totally overfamiliar and trite criticisms of the chain store phenomenon, but i usually am much more sanguine about it so indulge me.

xxpost

I don't see how any bookstore can be expected to have all these specialized small press/university press things sitting around, if they are going to make any money. Maybe I am too accepting, but I've just come to expect that I will often have to special order things (or order them online myself). (There are some independent stores that have selections close to some of my interests, but they aren't near enough for me to visit very often.)

And I do agree with most of your points, I wouldn't shop here if it wasn't for the discount

xxpost

HAHAHAHA I just bought this at Kim's Video in NYC. It was on sale. It's great.

but I realized reading this thread that that will change when I move back to ATX in a couple of weeks. yay austin.

It was, but it's out of business now. Book Soup on Sunset and Vroman's in Pasadena are worthy alternatives.

And meet chicks.

The selection at my local Barnes & Noble is a joke. I've given up looking for anything off the best-seller list there, I just wait until I can go to Borders (which may be terrible, but has a selection about twice as varied as the average B&N in my experience).

i guess this is why people move to new york.

this is out finally? must get...

And now I'm on an anti-Borders tear because the chain refused to stock my book -- from a medium-sized but well-established publisher -- because they DIDN'T LIKE THE COVER. Apparently it's now standard operating procedure for publishers to submit books to Borders and B&N for cover approval or even editorial advice.

TEAR THE ROOF OFF THE SUCKA!

xpost

the newberry library isn't quite downtown, but it's deinitely closer to downtown than hyde park--that's an idea. (p.s. the number of chicago "lurkers" always astounds me. and worries me, sometimes.)

markelby: i can't afford too many new books right now, alas.

You can order directly from the UC Press (or get AdamRL to stop by on his way home)... $3.75 Shipping but no tax to IL.

g!

Borders and Barnes & Noble have been so successful over the years that there are many towns and cities in which the only bookstore is either one or both of those chains.

There are plenty of places (in the US) with just a B&N, not many with just a Borders.

That is true. Also they seem to be forgetting about the international network. That said, the portents in this story are sad, sad, sad.

Maybe Ursula K. LeGuin will write another Harper's story like she did a few months ago and end up having her own 'Notebook' type segment each month called 'Fuck Publishers, Fuck People Who Don't Read, and Fuck You Too.'

micawber's books! (RIP)

-- max, Monday, March 24, 2008 1:32 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark Link

oh no!

Recently visited the Borders in Adelaide: they've just put up the price of EVERY book by 10%. Fuck them.

above the price on the back cover?

I can't believe I missed a thread that was partly about the Seminary Co-Op bookstore.

btw i live a few blocks from these guys http://www.magersandquinn.com/

above the price on the back cover?

Yep, but completely obscuring the printed-on price tag with their own stickers. Sons of bitches.

On a related note: Out of Town News in Harvard Square not planning to renew its lease on Jan. 21.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/11/20/plan_to_shutter_newsstand_pierces_heart_of_harvard_sq/

http://i.pbase.com/v3/62/579762/1/46623268.HarvardSquareKiosk.jpg

isn't that sort of unprecedented to sell above the cover price? one of the huge advantages of chain bookstores is that they've been able to do deep discounts (on best sellers at least) because of their huge bulk orders from publishers.

fucckkkkkk

First the Wursthaus, now this!

The Glasgow Borders is fucking appalling since it was bought over by venture capital early this year. They've replaced the classics, drama, poetry and foreign language section with Crime. 12 rows of Crime. The basement is now a Game, and the rest of it is Airport-tastic. Cunts.

that's an awful lot of crime. perhaps a bit more than necessary....

The replacement store, Labrynth, seems pretty good. My wife's favorite author is Iris Murdoch, and they had just about everything she's ever written. My wife said she's never seen that in any other bookstore. My sister-in-law, who we were visiting there, said she overheard the owner of Labrynth saying "Oh God, it's such an intellectual desert here. I've just got to get back to New York."

― Hurting 2, Monday, March 24, 2008 3:34 PM (7 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ive warmed to labyrinth a lot but i still miss micawbers like a motherfucker

Funny thing, even San Francisco is giving me the heebie-jeebies in terms of books...so many places, and most of them have little to no poetry, or only the large compendiums of 20th c. philosophy. an exception is Books & Bookshelves (but i loathe the Castro) and Modern Times (which is fucking great, for the most part). i would hike over to SPD in N. Berkeley but jesus, such a long walk and such a confusing warehouse full of books!

even City Lights is infinitely worse than I expected.

but this is, again, only in terms of my particular interests. the Poetry section at City Lights is cluttered with bullshit Beat-era and SF renaissance stuff whilst simultaneously claiming a 2005 winner of the Yale Younger Poets as an 'emerging voice.' so out of touch it hurts me inside.

Oddly enough, I've been to the Glasgow Borders, on a rainy day about 10 years ago.

'SPD' = serendipity? that place is awesome but peter is one grumpy mofo. and yeah, the disorganisation is stressful: lots of times an author will have two or more separate sections.

I found a great (by Glasgow standards) second-hand philosophy section in a SF bookstore, fucked if I can remember where it was though.

Waterstones on Sauchiehall Street is great though, so who needs Borders?

ppl who think waterstone's on sauchiehall st has also been shite since the sale.

Re the jacking-up of prices: The reason, according to someone who works there, is that, "We're the only bookshop in Adelaide that allows extended browsing, so the cost of that needs to be included in the price of the books." As an explanation, this is a priceless combination of bullshit-lies and sheer nonsense.

the cost of browsing fuck off

ppl who think waterstone's on sauchiehall st has also been shite since the sale.

― stet, Thursday, November 20, 2008 11:24 PM (Yesterday)

Not a fan? I'm interested to know why. I always find an interesting selection of fiction there. I like the tables of 'European Fiction', 'American Fiction' etc. and the little genre and country specific displays. Lots of intriguing stuff I've never heard of. I spend a fair number of lunch breaks up there.

I'll second that - I was in yesterday, and the tables of Contemporary Classics and European Fiction have some really interesting looking books I might not look twice at otherwise - or even be able to find! I do wish they'd update their "Staff Recommends" display on the first floor though...

On that note, krakow, can I recommend Novel 11 Book 18 by Dag Solstad (translated from the Norwegian) on the European Fiction table.

Strange read, but well worthwhile!

i hate not living in england/the us. now i visited every fucking bookstore to find "the beautiful and the damned" but didn't find one copy. gah. guess i'll have to order it from amazon.

I'll stand up for Borders! I grew up in the suburbs and before Borders opened what we had was Waldenbooks and B. Dalton in the mall. And all of a sudden there was a giant bookstore that sold foreign books, contemporary poetry, technical math books, literary magazines.... stuff that COULD NOT BE FOUND previously. It was a big deal and I'm grateful to this day.

By the way, "The Beautiful and Damned" stinks and if the chain stores aren't carrying it you should laud them for using a little discretion instead of automatically filling shelf space with the complete works of a famous name.

However, I am on board with the sadness about the loss of Out of Town News and Micawber. I like Labyrinth fine (at least, the one on the Upper West Side) but it's painfully snotty, and it's not at all surprising to hear it's fun by fuckwits who say things like "Oh God, it's such an intellectual desert here. I've just got to get back to New York." I agree -- people like that have got to get back to New York!

agreed that the borders on buchanan st is godawful - horribly laid-out, ratty looking stock, high prices on DVDs/CDs and never any good offers or bargains. the magazine section is its one saving grace (that and the fact that it's open late.)

waterstones on sauchiehall st is certainly better - their 3 for 2 offers on graphic novels are gd

The Beautiful And Damned isn't Tender Is The Night - indeed it's pretty much a dry run for TITN - but it's still a fascinating read.

I remember when Borders opened in Oxford Circus ten years ago (or thereabouts) - it looked good, felt good and its music and philosophy sections in particular were terrific.

Then it slowly started going downhill; you could see the widening spaces on each floor as the stock reduced and narrowed. Now it's the least attractive shop of its type and size in central London (except possibly for the arguably ghastlier branch in Charing Cross Road which succeeded a perfectly decent Books Etc.).

So these days I stick to indie and used bookshops exclusively.

Yeah, that's their business model--start big and impressive, drive out other bookshops, then cut everything back when there's no competition and jack up the prices. Nice to know they're in financial trouble.

Dear Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop Customers,

We believe there is wisdom in knowing the appropriate time to say farewell. After 82 years of bookselling, it is with immense sadness that we announce the closing of Milwaukee's own independent Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops. Our doors will be permanently shut as of Tuesday, March 31st, 2009.

For eight decades, we have remained a family-owned business. Harry and Reva Schwartz, followed by their son A. David Schwartz, guided the independent book business from 1927, when Harry opened his first store in the back of a Downer Avenue beauty parlor, to today's age of computer publishing and the surge of Internet shopping.

Unfortunately, profound shifts in how people shop and equally great changes in the book industry left us and many other well-established bookshops with dwindling sales. Although David Schwartz successfully led us into the new century fighting for our ground, the winds of change became gales -- and with David's passing in 2004, we were a wounded business. The most recent economic crisis was, for us, the final blow.

aww, i loved these stores when i was a kid in milwaukee.

Prepare yourselves for Borders disappearing this year as well:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/business/media/13book.html?_r=3&ref=business

I'm shocked that Borders is (still!) second to Barnes and Nobles in sales; it's by far the better chain. Its customer service is superior, and I always find an obscure book.

you can also more easily find obscure CDs on their website, but I guess it's the Grisham/King/Rachel Ray set that keeps these big boxes going...

Good idea

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090505/ap_on_en_ot/us_borders__make__books/print

Yeah except it's still in a Borders.

Hmm, basically trying to cross the "Oprah Book" effect with the "Staff Picks" shelf. I dunno - Oprah has an incredible forum with an attentive audience, and we never used to move that much stuff from the Staff Picks shelf. Enough to justify having it, esp. to get sleeper books moving again, but a lot of times I think it was just to give ourselves something to do that felt individual and creative. (Sort of like the hours spent on silly drawings in the windows promoting Harry Potter or whatever - like anybody needs to be reminded that Harry Potter books might be found at a bookstore! It's just fun to do.)

fuck-chain bookstores

^^^word
can't remember the last time I bought something from one

"It's almost as if Borders is going back to its roots as a personal, hand-selling organization," Albert N. Greco, a professor of marketing at Fordham University and a leading industry analyst, says. "It's a very good marketing strategy and a very positive sign."

i dont know if it's "almost as if" that's happening albert n greco so much as thats "actually what is happening"

almost

Except your crappy staff are "hand-selling" some boss-mandated book rather than something they personally give two shits about.

It can't miss!

Barnes and Noble in trouble, it seems.

oh NO who will service my NOOK now

Weird news for Foyles:

Foyles is to relocate its world famous Charing Cross Road bookstore 15 yards down the road to the redundant Central St Martin’s School of Art.

Its present landlord, Noved Investment Holdings, announced this morning that it had bought the 74,780 sq ft art school at 107 to 109 Charing Cross Road.

The school, part of the University of the Arts, will relocate to new premises in King’s Cross in August.

Noved will begin developing a three-floor bookstore by the end of the year, for occupation in two years’ time. Hines, the US developer, will develop apartments above the sales space.

The current store, owned by Noved, at 113-119 Charing Cross Road, where Foyles has sold books for more than 100 years, will be redeveloped.

this is somewhat explained by the fact the Noved IS Foyles; they're a property investor first, and a bookstore much much farther down the list. i think the book operations actually make a loss.

hard to believe since they're so expensive

death watch for St Mark's in NYC? Steep discounts etc...

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20160211/east-village/marshals-auction-scheduled-for-st-marks-bookshop

http://gothamist.com/2016/02/09/st_marks_books_fire_sale.php