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Comment by Umalu | Hacker News Reader

What went wrong at Borders? Easy. They have a ubiquitous competitor who offers customers 1,000x the selection at lower prices. The only benefit Borders offers is immediate gratification for those who can't wait a few days, or a week, for their books. Borders has had the stench of death for a long time now. I'm wondering whether Barnes & Noble is next.

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The only benefit Borders offers is immediate gratification for those who can't wait a few days

Or for those who want a meaningful preview of a book before buying.

Over the years, I've saved much more money by avoiding purchases of books I imagined I would like, than I've saved by buying from discount warehouses.

Libraries are one way of doing this, but for new technical books, my local Borders was a go-to place.

One thing to consider here is that Amazon accepts returns. You have to pay a bit for shipping, but you could easily buy a copy of each book you might want, keep the ones you do, and still end up ahead.

Thanks. That's at least an option, especially once/if the local places close.

I will still feel bad about it. With the Borders coupons, I usually ended up spending no more than I would at Amazon, anyway. And I really like the experience of browsing. I often end up with three or four books spread out in front of me, dipping into each one, comparing their style, presentation, TOCs and indices, etc...

About previews, I find amazon's free sample on kindle to be really useful most of the time.

I suspect local used book stores are next. As a greater proportion of book purchases become e-books fewer physical books will be available for resale to used book stores. Yes, there are people who would never touch an e-book, but even a slight decrease in their available inventory is going to have an impact.

Local bookstores seem to be booming. Amazon is taking out their competitors (B+N, Borders, Waterstones) while offering them a global marketplace to sell used books online.

The ones that have put any effort into a pleasant environment, local books, reading events etc are doing better than they have in years. Remember HN are not typical of the general population when it comes to book buying or ebook reading.

IMO the problem won't be incoming inventory, it'll be outgoing sales. Inventory won't be a problem because fewer people will be buying new physical books, plus a certain amount of people will replace their physical books with the digital counterpart.

Barnes & Noble have put a lot more thought into their revenue model than Borders and are more interested in trying new things (e.g. they have a credible entry in the e-reader market). They are feeling the pressure from Amazon, but not circling the drain like Borders has been for a long time now.

Not true. I shop at Borders, Amazon, used bookstores and small local stores in about equal proportions.

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