Borders was a Nice Place to Hang Out
Or if you were talking about the Borders in Fairfield, CT, it was a great place to cut through.
Interviews I conducted yesterday about the liquidation of Borders only told part of the story, why marketers felt Borders failed. One of the reasons was something we covered three years ago: How late-to-the-table Borders was on getting into ecommerce. Amazon.com actually handled ecommerce for Borders until February 2008. But yes, as then vice president of e-Business Kevin Ertell said at the annual NRF show, they did have a marketing website in place.
Everything else Brent Niemuth and Robert Passikoff told us yesterday made perfect sense. Not that they are not brilliant minds, but the casual observer could have told us Borders’ was a train wreck waiting to happen.
Now, back to Fairfield.
Back in April, when Borders announced it would close its downtown Fairfield store, some of my Facebook friends went nuts. Where were they going to go to use free wi-fi? Where were they going to meet their friends so they can make plans for dinner and drinks? Where were they going to get a cup of coffee?
The library? As one friend described Borders, in general – Borders stores were just libraries with less homeless people.
Borders was a nice place to hang out. And once in a while, people would buy something.
I’ll miss the Fairfield store for a few reasons.
One was gift-giving convenience. Sure, I could get my father a Borders gift card at the grocery store, pharmacy or at the nearby Waldenbooks, but I knew that meant hours of joy for my 82-year-old father, who would spend all day buying discount books if you’d let him.
The other was parking convenience. The Fairfield store had a big parking deck in the back of it. I’d park there and cut through Borders to go see my brother, Kevin, play his annual gig at Sherman Green. And I’d park there and cut through Borders if I wanted to meet friends for pizza and a beer at Colony Grill.
If I was still hungry after pizza, maybe I’d buy a Lindt truffle at Borders. Or for that matter, I’d buy three for $1. Maybe, just maybe, my $1 sale may have helped Borders make plan one day.
