Borders

If you haven’t been to a Borders store lately, now would be a good time to go get an eReader.

Borders sent out an email to its Borders Rewards mailing list this morning with a new announcement. It’s winding down store operations, and as a result it has increased the sales discount. Everything in store is on sale (including fixtures), and  it’s now priced at 50% to 70% off.

If there’s still a Borders store in your area, chances are it still has eReaders, cases, and accessories in stock.  A spot check of various stores showed that had a fair number of Kindle Wifi eBook readers in stock. They all also had dozens of cases that fit any number of tablets and eReaders. The accessory selection was quite diverse, too. There were everything from emergency batteries to screen protectors and skins for the Kobo Wifi.

In case you were worried, an eReader purchased from Borders will still have its manufacturer’s warranty. Also, the Borders eBookstore might have closed, but you can still buy eBooks just about anywhere else (except iBooks, B&N, and Amazon) and read them on the eReader.

P.S. If you are uncertain about what to do with the eReader you bought from Borders, this brief FAQ might help.

image by rubenerd

 

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Kobo has released an official response to last week’s news about Borders going into liquidation on Friday. It can be summed up as this: Kobo is not dying with Borders, so there’s no need to tell the staff how healthy they look.

And stop asking how much for the fixtures. Hey! They’re still using that conference table. Put it back!

Joking aside, the press release doesn’t actually say much that’s new. Kobo doesn’t rely on Borders to act as more than one of many retail channels in the US (along with Wal-mart, Sears, Best Buy, and others). Kobo supplies the content for the eBookstore that Borders used to run, and it wills till sell eBooks in its own eBookstore long after Borders is gone.

via Kobo

BAM!’s plans to expand into the northeastern US fell through yesterday, dashing the hopes of the customers and employees of those stores.

Books-A-Million had submitted a bid last week to buy the inventory, fixtures, and equipment for 30 Borders stores.Unfortunately, lawyers for the soon-to-be second largest US bookstore chain told the bankruptcy judge yesterday that they couldn’t work out a deal with Borders.

Clyde B. Anderson, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President said, “we worked exhaustively in an effort to acquire these stores and reach agreements with all of the parties whose consent was necessary. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful.”

The exact details were not released, but it had been hoped by many that BAM! would be able to acquire the stores and thus prevent communities from losing an employer, community resource, and in some localities their only major bookstore.

The deal would have saved around 1,600 jobs. The liquidation of Borders stores began on Friday, with all stores scheduled to close by the end of September.

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image by fsse8info

There’s been an outpouring of support over the past few days in the publishing and bookselling community for those affected by the collapse of Borders, and some have banded together to turn their words into action. They launched a new blog yesterday, and they plan to try to help as many former Borders’ employees as the can.

I learned about the site through Colleen Lindsay, a friend I know through Twitter. here’s how she described why they want to accomplish:  “So after much Google+ brainstorming, Laura Anne Gilman came up with the idea for a Borders blog, a place where those folks who work near a Borders store that is closing can post about any open positions they’d like an unemployed Borders employee to get first crack at. Chris Kubica put this Posterous blog together together on the fly.”

You can find the blog here, and I’m sure that Colleen and co would love to hear about any related job openings that you know of. Image by London Permaculture

Borders has found a buyer and if the deal goes through, the company would stay in business. Thursday evening Borders accepted a $215.1 million buyout from Direct Brands, a portfolio of Najafi Companies, which also owns the Book-of-the-Month Club.

If the deal goes through, Borders would operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Direct Brands. And apparently the company plans to focus on its eBook business.

Mike Edwards, Borders Group President, stated: “We are pleased to take another important step forward as we position Borders for a vibrant future and sustainable earnings growth.  Since the filing, we have made significant progress in reducing our cost structure, refocusing our merchandise offering, and building our eBook business.  We look forward to working with a supportive partner as we continue to execute on our turnaround strategy.”

Rumors are circulating that the bankrupt bookstore chain Borders is up for sale, but no one wants to buy it. The Wall Street Journal posted a story which reported a rumor that Borders was “in discussions with a potential bidder for more than 225 stores”. Bloomberg News reported a different rumor that same day that B&N was interested in 10 stores, but that’s not the most interesting rumor.

Amazon has supposedly put in a bid for those 225 stores. Benzinga.com is raising the possibility that Amazon might want to get into brick and mortar stores.  Its argument is that Amazon is facing a losing battle of collecting sales taxes as more and more states get desperate for funds. If it loses this tax battle, why not use the stores to build a bigger presence in major markets?

That doesn’t make much sense when you sum it up, does it? What do you think?

image by Aidan Jones

Up until Monday night, anyone could have gone on the web and messed with your account.

About 3 days ago one Borders employee decided to share with the world that the Borders Reward website was open to the web. Anyone who  knew the address could have searched for an account and edited any of the information. No, seriously, it used to be right here. I saw it. I even went in and changed details on my Borders Rewards account (I get the teacher discount now).

Are you freaked out yet? You should be. The site is down now, but no one knows how long this security breach has been open. But my guess is that it’s been open ever since the site was launched. Borders was probably relying on security through obscurity. So long as no one knew about it (besides the vast numbers of Borders employees), it was safe.

I heard about this site on Saturday, and I held the story. I was waiting for a friend to tell me if he thought it could be hacked. I never did get an answer, unfortunately.  It would have been interesting to find out if he could have messed with the database (not just one entry). But the site is down now, so it doesn’t matter.

image by chelmsfordblue

Buzz Feed has put together a collection of amusing photos taken at the various closing Borders bookstores. The soon to be former employees have made a number of snide jokes about the closing stores and  the content left behind.

Buzz Feed

Borders has Motorola’s new Android tablet up for pre-order.

This is a 10″ Android tablet that is just now hitting the market. It’s running  Android v3.0 on a dual 1GHz CPU with 32GB Flash storage, a microSD card slot, a pair of cameras (2MP, 5MP w\flash), Bluetooth, Wifi, and all around impressive specs.

Borders is listing it for $599, so this is probably the Wifi only model (it’s not clear). This is one of the first tablets to ship with Google’s blessing, and it has the full suite of Google apps, as well as the Android Marketplace.

It is something of a shock to see Borders add a new gadget while it is in the middle of bankruptcy, I think. But on the upside, when the rest of the company goes under I might be able to pick one up cheap.

Borders

Do you remember last month when eBookNewser reported on Borders bouncing paychecks? It looks like that wasn’t the only check Borders neglected to pay.

There’s a new discussion on the LiveJournal community IWorkAtBorders, and it was started by one user who reports that Borders isn’t paying his 401k account. Specifically, his most recent statement from Merrill Lynch shows that Merrill Lynch had to remove the payment for February. Apparently whatever electronic transfer Borders tried to send must have been declined by Borders’ bank.

And the odd part is that the waylaid funds were from the employee’s paycheck, not from Borders. If this report is true then Borders in effect robbed this employee.

Given that Borders messed up paychecks and a 401k payment, what do think are the odds that Borders also neglected to pass along the taxes and insurance deducted from employees’ paychecks? I think there’s a pretty good chance, myself.