I got the email this morning about Borders Books going out of business sale, up to 40% off starting today. Of course, I knew Borders was up for sale (no takers) and were in dire financial straits and many of their stores had closed. But I was lucky enough to frequent two of the stores that actually stayed open.
Until today, when I found out they were all shutting their doors, probably by the end of September, according to the clerk I talked to this afternoon. She was very positive and cheerful and upbeat, but also sad to be losing her job and worried where she would work next. It is sad for the company, for all of the employees, and for us as the public because I thought Borders was a lovely place to shop and I definitely favored it over Barnes and Noble.
I stopped in this afternoon. First of all, the parking lot was jam packed and many people were parking in the CVS parking lot and walking over. And of course, there was someone standing in the street holding up the Going Out Of Business sign; Everything Must Go. I was lucky enough to get a spot in the Borders parking lot. When I walked in, there were 40% off signs everywhere--even all of the magazines were 40% off.
There was everything -- books, greeting cards, DVDS, etc. and most things were 10 to 20% off with even further reductions probably looming very soon, but today was the first day of the Going Out of Business sale so I would say on average most of the books were still only 10% off; definitely the fiction books were not that drastically reduced. I saw people snatching up a lot of cookbooks so maybe they were marked down ever further. The greeting cards were also 40% off like the magazines.
I grabbed a book about Elizabeth Taylor called "The Most Beautiful Woman In The World". I always love reading biographies especially about old-time movie stars and she really had an amazing life with al of those husbands. And diamonds!
Then I grabbed a Nora Ephron book"I Remember Nothing" which seems to be a collection of essays
and a book called "Why My Third Husband Will Be A Dog" - that one obviously because I loved the title--I think it is a humorous memoir!
Then a little notebook with Barbie on the cover--one of the old-fashioned Barbies all stylishly dressed and a datebook for 2011-12--I can alway use that for my handbag. That I grabbed because of the whimsical bunnies on the cover--I am a sucker for all things bunny rabbit!
I decided to also grab the Maria Menounos "Every Girls Guide to Life" -I was going to download that to my Nook, but I decided the actual book with all of its illustrations would probably translate better to a physical book. That is true sometimes!
Then I decided I had enough for this trip and got in line where there were literally about 100 people ahead of me and the line wound all the way to practically the back of the store. It is not even that crowded at Christmas. As someone behind me in line said, apparently going out of business is profitable.
My total for all books was $70 so really I don't think I saved that much, but I was happy with my purchases. I will probably go back again before it is all over.
r.i.p. Borders-you were a great book store.
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