Books without Borders

We hear about the death of the independent bookstore, but it’s interesting to note that the death-shivers of your favorite local establishment may be simultaneous with the much bigger death-quake of the "big box" bookstores. The New York Times reports today that many “industry analysts” (who are these people??) predict possible bankruptcy for the company:

If the bookseller were to go out of business, publishers could lose tens of millions of dollars, miles of shelf space and the selling power of more than 675 retail stores.

Borders lagged Barnes & Noble in establishing its digital book business and has been threatened by competition from Amazon.com and big-box discount stores. Peter Wahlstrom, a retail analyst for Morningstar Equity Research, said Borders had been badly hurt by a decline in sales of printed books.

It’s easy to be sympathetic to the little guy down the block selling dusty old used books, but alas, it’s much harder to feel for the big guy, and the big guy doesn’t get much bigger than Borders. To sum up: wah wah wah. Maybe the empty stores will provide good locations for readers to go way beyond Bed, Bath and Beyond.