Last week, I went to Borders for Day 2 of their going-out-of-business sale. I expected the discounts to be too shallow to be worthwhile. I also figured the children's section would be really picked over, and that was the main area I was interested in.
I was right on both predictions! All the books were 10% off. Maybe you are someone who does not scoff at 10% off, but I do. I start to perk up around 30%, but what I really like are half-off of half-off kinds of deals, with an additional coupon to boot. Does 10% ever really make the difference between buying and not buying? (Anders stopped in again today and said they've upped it to 20%.)
And the children's bookshelves were stripped. It was the same way when our Blockbuster went out of business: the markdowns were laughably negligible, and the kid's stuff simply vaporized.
The greeting cards were 40% off, and they did have a good selection remaining, so I picked up a handful (hearing Cam from 'Modern Family' in my head as I did so - justifying the purchase of so many expensive greeting cards by repeating "40% off" for each one). I didn't bother scouring the store, so maybe I missed out on some good finds.
I'm a book-lover, but I don't feel too sad about Borders. I always preferred Barnes & Noble, but the store I have a real affection for is Half Price Books. Dad used to take me on dates to dinner and Half Price Books. I loved the particular one we went to, which has since closed. The books there were nice and worn and cheap, and the shelves were overloaded, so you could sometimes find books stacked behind rows of other books, which was exciting. And back then I still had unread Jane Austen and Jules Verne novels waiting to be found by me.
It's Amazon that put Borders out of business, right? Are e-book readers also to blame? Are the other chains close behind? Why can't bookstores sell books for the same price as Amazon? I wish they would.
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