Entertainment For Lively Minds
The times they are a changin' pt 67
Posted by Chris G on 27 July 2009 - 2:51pm.
It may by now already be shut but last Friday I went to Borders on Oxford St for a present only to find a frenzy of bargain hunters. It seems they are closing other stores elsewhere too.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/davehillblog/2009/jul/13/blogpost
I know London is always changing but the loss of major stores on Oxford st (Virgin went at the turn of the year) in the last year is striking. The move to online/recession has been much discussed but it's certainly salutary to see things that looked so permanent disappear in the space of a couple of years.
If it's still open (it may be well picked over) but I got several good cook and poetry books for £1 a piece (even my friend's birthday card was half price!!)
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Amazing statistic
At one time (mid-80's I think), over a third of all records sold in the UK were sold in Oxford Street. Now it's just down to HMV, and music now represents less than a third of HMV's business...
Sorry, I know that's more to do with Oxford Street rather than Border's, but as an indicator of the drop in the retail relevance of music, it's hard to beat.
Borders had been struggling for years
Their UK operation expanded just as Amazon became a dominant force in book retailing. Additionally, they had just started having their DVDs and CDs distributed by EUK when Woolworths went down, so there's a minor knock on effect there.
At one point in the last five years, Borders' main warehouse was located in... Cornwall. So publishers would have to ship product all the way to the south west tip of the country, only for Borders to ship it back up the A30 and beyond to (for example) Glasgow. If the book didn't sell it would be sent back to Cornwall, then back to the publisher again. Madness.
Woolies collapsing (and taking EUK with it) has really decimated bricks and mortar entertainment retail. Zavvi management point to EUK's demise as the reason for their own downfall, but the business had been lossmaking for years.
So it's a bookshop is it?
Not being someone who has their finger on the pulse of life in the capital I've never heard of Borders.
Sorry I wasn't being
needlessly metropolitan I thought they'd spread to most big towns after buying up various other chains (I was in the one in Leeds at Xmas). And to be fair I did mention I went their to buy some books so they weren't likely to be a Jet ski franchise!
A year back (approx)
I was shopping in Borders Cheshire Oaks, filling my arms with all manner of goodies in the sale - Damned singles CD sets, Clash singles CDs, Muppets Red & Green Christmas, etc - when an announcement came over the tannoy, er, announcing all sale items were now half the already reduced ticket prices. Bloody great timing what.
Sad to see its demise but part of the blame must go to the quality of the product in stock. Modern life is rubbish.
Borders was a joyless
Borders was a joyless corporate experience..no loss there
Trouble is we all enjoy the convenience of surfing the net for tunes and either legally or (shhh..) more dubiously downloading music - guess what it has a reaction.....
I take your point
about the corporate nature of borders. But if oxford st can't sustain a book shop where can? Also how do you buy a last minute birthday present etc?
Also you need to sometimes to see books before you buy them the online page view business doesn't work for me.
Location, Location, Location
Borders was at the "wrong end" of Oxford Street (Tottenham Court Road) - unlikely to entice the tourists who plunge in and out of Selfridges, John Lewis, House of Fraser, Top Shop, NikeTown, Adidas, M&S and the nearby Hamleys and Liberty. You'd need to make a detour or physically WANT to go to Borders to trek the extra 3/4 of a mile.
Plus the extortionate rents and council tax doesn't assist those, like Borders, operating on wafer thin profit margins.
Sorry to be a pedant, but it
Sorry to be a pedant, but it was close to Oxford Circus - between Oxford Circus and M&S and before you got to HMV
Not such a bad place- just a bad store
Not sure about the situation now
but "wafer thin profit margins" wasn't always the case on books, not in the days when the recommended retail price was in force anyway. A hardback that retailed for say £15 in Smiths or Waterstones would have been bought in at £7, and the author would have been lucky to see £1.50 of that. Pretty decent margin back then.
Obviously, abolition of RRP, and particularly the growth of Amazon etc as a result has completely changed things. Except the author still gets buttons unless its mass market stuff.
Books still have a greater
Books still have a greater representation than music
There are a number of Waterstones on Oxford st (...err need to check facts on that but there is at least one!..) and then there is the embarassment of bookly pleasures on Charing X Road
(Music has nothing like that choice)
Charing X Road
Nothing like the number there were. Lots of the independents have closed, forced out by higher rents, I don't know what's become of the Borders and the Waterstones by Foyles was replaced by a porn shop. The newish Waterstone's opposite John Lewis on Oxford Street has also closed though I beleive the one near Tottenham Court tube is still there.
There are no book shops on oxford st
the waterstones opposite john lewis closed, and the one at the tottenham court road end closed when the astoria closed to make way for Cross rail.
Funny I always think of the Hyde Park end as the wrong never go up there as it's all clothes shops etc. Apart from HMV and to buy a new glass for my coffee maker (John lewis) not much point going to Oxford st!
Books etc
opp Selfridges - was there before I went on hols - mind you that's a week ago now...
I did wonder about that one
I must admit it is the wrong end for me. poor show for "Europe's biggest shopping street" though.
Waterstones
although they have an online presence, are probably beset by the same issues as Borders.
How long the large booksellers can last and more importantly what will they sell (a mixture of identikit 'Chick-Lit' novels, Richard & Judy Books Of The Month, high profile biogs, TV tie-ins and trendy self-help mumbo-jumbo/science-lite) is another matter.
Last time I set foot in a Borders
about a year ago, the one in Oxford (city, not street), I was struck by just how bad a shop it was. It did lots of things - books, music, DVDs, games, stationary, magazines, cafe, etc. - but none of them well. What was it for?
Shame, because a dozen years ago or so, they were genuinely innovative. For a while I did all my music buying there because they were one of the first shops to do price promotions and back catalogue stuff. They had a broad and interesting selection of books, magazines you coldn't find anywhere else and you could have a coffee while browsing. Let's see if it's still there when I revisit on my summer hols next week.
Just goes to show though that the only possible future - at least for bookshops - is small-scale and specialist not big and generalist.
Magazines
The main thing Borders has going for it is the enormous range of magazines - still the case based on the branches I've been in recently.
Agree
Great range of music and guitar magazines. Where else can you find 'No Depression', 'Maverick', 'Downbeat', 'Wired' etc. straight off the shelf. (Not in W. Midlands that's for sure).
And the latest 'Modern Toss' outpourings !
Don't forget - Waterstones and HMV are part of the same group
which is nearly-last-man-standing on many high streets. Incidentally, the lease on the Borders Oxford Street store is being sold to New Look....
One of the big problems with traditional book retailing is that it doesn't fit the modern high street retail model very well, namely fast throughput, pushing promotion-deals above all else (stores under continual pressure to meet sales target on stock the head office decided to buy in), silly rents, hive-off of personal ordering services to the internet, etc. etc.
I could venture the statement that an awful lot of retailing doesn't seem to fit the modern retailing model very well, but then I'm just an old cynic.
I'd agree about the comment about the brilliant Borders magazine range above, but have always had my suspicions as to how much of this stock actually gets sold.
How soon
before HMV follows the Waterstones lead in having coffee bars & catering instore. I know the Borders I went to had one. The Fopp in Manchester does...and that's HMV-owned. The profit-margin % is probably greater on these sales and ensures the punters stay for longer.
Margins
The margin on items such as stationery and cards is much higher than on books, hence the front-of-store oush in stores such as Waterstone's.
And
the compulsory oush by checkout staff to try and sell you something else. "Would sir/madam like our latest doodangkerfiddle...?"
I hate book shops that smell
I hate book shops that smell of coffee and that sell generic panini lunches. Even if they have a load of great magazines.
dunno, there are *CD* shops
that smell of coffee I could make a real case for
http://www.musicaloffering.com/cafe/index.html
Late into this thread--so was a bit taken aback by this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8376394.stm
Unfortunately, I fear this is the endgame for Borders
They appear to be in the same position as Woolworths this time last year... credit insurance for stock purchases unavailable, so they cannot buy the amount of product required to support a decent trading Christmas. Without that the cash flow is insufficient to support trading next year.
A great shame.
yes, for
1. the mags (as remarked)
2. the fact they'd wrap stuff at Xmas
3. the ease of meeting people there
and what I recall to be a good stock in some areas,
but that lot's not really a USP these days is it ?
[I won't miss the classical section at my local one-never organised, no one to care for it, random stock as far as I could see]
In other words
they're borderline broke.