Borders files for bankruptcy protection

[Florestan]

We have no cultural love for fine material things.

Is "we" above a substitute for "Americans"?

[(poco) Sforzando]

You talk as that were the cause and not the symptom.  Market analysts attribute their decline in part to reluctance to let go of the CD and DVD market long after it ceased to be viable.  I rarely bought a CD at Borders, I used to go there for actual books.

That's why I used the phrase "for folks like us," so as to not imply that were the cause. It's still a good place to go if you want a Rachael Ray cookbook or the wisdom of Glenn Beck.

[DavidRoss]

We're not materialists, we're consumerists. We have no cultural love for fine material things, but we love to buy loads of crap cheaply.

And all too true!

In our defense let's point out that few have the strength of character to resist the consumerist brainwashing in the popular media that conditions us from cradle to grave.

[Grazioso]

Is "we" above a substitute for "Americans"?

Yes, because not only do we not appreciate the finer things in life, we're also presumptuous 

[Scarpia]

If I want to be surrounded by books and just browse around, I'll head to a library.

What makes you think Libraries aren't next?  I think the economic necessity of libraries is even more questionable than bookstores, it is just that the institutions that operate libraries don't react to market forces as quickly as retailers.  In scientific publishing, 99.9% of library visits have been replaced by downloading a pdf file or looking at an on-line index.  In the near future a library will be a web site that licences various electronic editions and lets you have access to them if you are on their list of subscribers.

[Florestan]

Yes, because not only do we not appreciate the finer things in life, we're also presumptuous 

Once, while sipping a beer in Florence, I overheard the following conversation between two American cuties:

A: How is the hotel room?
B: It's nice but there's no TV.

Why would one need a TV when in Florence, only a consumerist American can tell. 

[Bulldog]

Once, while sipping a beer in Florence, I overheard the following conversation between two American cuties:

A: How is the hotel room?
B: It's nice but there's no TV.

Why would one need a TV when in Florence, only a consumerist American can tell. 

My hotel room in Florence had a TV, and it was good to have for late night just before sleep.  However, it's ice that bothered me in Florence and everywhere else in Europe.  What do you folks have against ice in your drinks? 

[Scarpia]

My hotel room in Florence had a TV, and it was good to have for late night just before sleep.  However, it's ice that bothered me in Florence and everywhere else in Europe.  What do you folks have against ice in your drinks?

It's also amusing to see what they show on TV in foreign countries.

[Florestan]

My hotel room in Florence had a TV, and it was good to have for late night just before sleep. 

Such a consumerist you are... 

However, it's ice that bothered me in Florence and everywhere else in Europe.  What do you folks have against ice in your drinks?

What drinks? If it's whisky or vodka, I have nothing against it.

[Florestan]

It's also amusing to see what they show on TV in foreign countries.

The same crap as in homeland, what else? 

[Bulldog]

Such a consumerist you are... 

What drinks? If it's whisky or vodka, I have nothing against it.

How about a simple glass of water.  It's hot as hell, and I'm served room temperature water.  What's going on?

[Florestan]

How about a simple glass of water.  It's hot as hell, and I'm served room temperature water.  What's going on?

Did you ask for ice and they turned you down? Or did you specify you want cold water?

EDIT: I never encountered this water / ice problem, at least not in the restaurants and bars, for the simple reason that I never asked for water there. 

OTOH, I bought plenty of bottles of water in the streets and they were almost always refrigerated.

[Octo_Russ]

I went into my branch of HMV not long ago [a chain store that sells music and video], and the prices!  yikes!, why would anyone with a brain want to spend their money there?, when you can buy online at a fraction of the price, it's Amazon, and especially EBay that's killed / killing these dinosaurs off.

Plus it's the digital medium too, you can buy a cheap disc on EBay, download it, then re-sell to someone else who can download it ... ad infinitum, plus i see many people who are selling their whole disc collection, as they've downloaded the lot on their I-pod, there's more physical second-hand copies floating around than ever before, which keeps bringing the prices down and down.

Even second-hand shops have a hard time staying afloat as the compact disc is now cheaper than it's ever been, and that's good news for buyers, also charity shops sells unwanted goods for next to nothing, i buy all my paperback books for £1 each in a charity shop, i won't ever buy new.

[PaulSC]

My local Borders is slated to close. (Is yours? Find out here...)

Can't say I'll really miss it, but if they have a big store-closing sale I may make one final visit to feed off the corpse! 

[Scarpia]

My local Borders is slated to close. (Is yours? Find out here...)

Can't say I'll really miss it, but if they have a big store-closing sale I may make one final visit to feed off the corpse! 

Mine is also closing.  I doubt there will be much of a sale.  I expect any stuff which is considered decent will be carted off to the neighboring stores that are still open, or to the warehouse.

[karlhenning]

Once, while sipping a beer in Florence, I overheard the following conversation between two American cuties:

A: How is the hotel room?
B: It's nice but there's no TV.

Why would one need a TV when in Florence, only a consumerist American can tell. 

Exactly! We never cared that there was no TV in any of the hotel rooms we stayed in in Italy.

[karlhenning]

I browse chain book stores to find things which I then purchase online for less. I suppose it's people like me who are killing such stores, but I don't really care. The "experience" Scarps enjoys will live on through second-hand bookstores, places where I am more than happy to fork out money before leaving.

Similarly, I have tended to purchase at Borders only what, with the application of a 30% or 40% discount coupon plus the Borders Rewards discount, would be at a price point comparable to what I should find on-line.

I agree with the idea that it is sad for community-gathering places to get shuttered up; but I am not going to get half the book or CD for the money, if I can help it, either.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Once, while sipping a beer in Florence, I overheard the following conversation between two American cuties:

A: How is the hotel room?
B: It's nice but there's no TV.

Why would one need a TV when in Florence, only a consumerist American can tell. 

If TV stations exist in Florence showing Italian programs and dubbed American ones (and of course they do), then there have to be plenty of Italians watching them.

[SonicMan46]

My hotel room in Florence had a TV, and it was good to have for late night just before sleep.  However, it's ice that bothered me in Florence and everywhere else in Europe.  What do you folks have against ice in your drinks?

Don - how about 'soft' toilet paper, too!    I've not been to Europe since 1996, so maybe ice is now available?

But, the news about Borders was certainly expected - Susan & I loved going to bookstores in the past, but rarely go now for the many reasons already mentioned - it is indeed a sad event - we still love taking horse carriage rides (esp. in Charleston & Savannah) but I'd never want to own one at the moment -   

However, nearly every year in January, I take the LOML to the Fearrington House near Chapel Hill, North Carolina (about a 90 min drive) for her birthday - there is a bookstore there called McIntyre's Books - not large; last month we made a visit and I picked up several paper backs (and she bought 3 I believe) - still a FUN experience - now it is about the only one that I visit, and not any even in my home town!  Susan will occasionally go to our local ones the checkout books and then order then online!

[Todd]

(Is yours? Find out here...)

Wow, not one of the four within a short driving distance to me is closing.  I guess I live in an exhuberantly literate part of the country.