Forum - View topicNEWS: Borders, Barnes & Noble Report 3rd Quarter Sales
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bleachigo66
 Posts: 246 |
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I hope this doesn't effect their manga section as that is where I spend my paycheck!
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glitteringloke
 Posts: 160 |
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if either store near me carried oishinbo (or other things i actually read), they'd have lots more of my money...
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Sakura-Alchemist
 Posts: 489 |
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If they stopped the manga cows from ruining all the manga they would have more of my money too. I can't buy from them. In the stores near me the manga is literally dirty, and beat to pieces.
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bleachigo66
Posts: 246 |
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That sounds rather unpleasant! There is always at least 1 copy in mint condition where I live. |
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Keonyn
 Subscriber Posts: 5567 Location: Coon Rapids, MN |
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I hate to say it, but they almost need to dump the manga section or drop the inventory. Everytime I go that aisle always has at least one person who has basically set up camp in the middle of the aisle, often times more than that. The worst part is that both the B&N's I shop at around here have large areas with seating to go to if you want to read through a book, but these people decide to sprawl across the aisle anyways. This particularly annoys me because manga is only half that aisle, the other side is the fiction section which I try to shop, but end up tripping around these people while I'm looking.
I never see anyone walk out of there with a manga in their hand, and I've never been at the checkout and seen anyone going up there with a manga. The inventory they have gets battered and abused by people who use it as a library, which makes it even less likely someone will buy it. I don't buy manga or artbooks, but the few times I have, I ended up going to stores miles away just to finally find a copy that didn't look like it was sitting in a cage with a gorilla. That section has to amount to a substantial loss. I can only imagine that if they continue to have sales problems, it might well be the first to go. |
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Sakura-Alchemist
Posts: 489 |
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yeah it is. OTL where i live it's hit or miss. They might have 1 copy of volume 7 in good condition but the rest are crap, included the other volumes in the series. they might have 4 copies of the same volume and they'd all be crap. if it's not beat up then it's dirty, if it's not dirty the corners are bent or something like that. If the cover looks pristine the pages are dog eared. :[ And I've tried special ordering from them before. first borders online, while it's not their fault but the deliver guy left the box out in the rain. and then when i tried in store pick up they were in worse condition than the ones on the shelf. partially because of the rubber band used to keep my order slip attached to them. as for Barnes and Noble I've special ordered with them and only maybe 1/6 comes in good enough condition for me to buy. They also never have the manga i want on it's release date. so that's another problem. and the worst part is they pretty much look at me like I'm the problem when i order things and don't buy :/ even when i explain to them why i am not buying. and that i really do want the book but i want it in good condition. I gave up shopping in the stores pretty much. I'm pretty fed up. I haven't bought manga in so long because of it. |
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Sailor S
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The people at my local Borders know me quite well, since I spend a good amount there every month. There isn't a huge manga cow problem, and I suspect that if there was and they were interfering with my ability to buy what I wanted, then I could probably convince the store employees to herd them out of the store. They know I will not buy something with a bent cover or other signs of abuse, and I'm pretty much a regular, so they do a lot to accomodate me. In part that's why I keep going there even though I can get better prices online.
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tasogarenootome
 Posts: 593 |
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Borders is down?! Obviously my monthly sprees are not enough! Our Borders is pretty nice and I've not really had the manga cow problem.
To those complaining about the livestock issue, I hope you've made it known to your local store manager - I'd hope they'd be motivated enough by lost profits to herd grazers along. |
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firedragon54738
 Posts: 3113 Location: wisconsin |
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I think its because you cant find any manga that isnt main stream there any more
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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The Borders here in the UK is filing for administration. which means they are going belly up.
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copycatzero
Posts: 7 |
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In the case of my local Barnes & Noble, too late. I swear, every time I go in there nowadays, the manga section is smaller than the last time I saw it. It used to be that I could go to B&N because I knew that they'd have something even if Borders didn't (especially things that we supposed to be released on that day, but the people at my local Borders couldn't get off their butts to put on the shelf or get from the back for me). Now I wonder why I even bother when I go there. My Borders has remained about the same -- still has a decent-sized manga section, but it's hit-or-miss as to whether they actually have what I want (when I want it). For example, Borders didn't get the first volume of the Lucky Star manga until about a month after it came out. Last time I checked, they still didn't have volume two. I had to order both online. At this point, I'm beginning to lean very heavily on the idea of just doing all my purchases (both manga and anime -- my Best Buy has been shrinking its anime section, too) from Right Stuf. My Got Anime membership doesn't get enough exercise, anyways. |
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SnaphappyFMA
Posts: 216 Location: California |
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Of the two big chain stores, I try to only patronize Borders. Borders stocks yaoi manga and light novels - Barnes and Noble doesn't (with the exception of lighter fare like Tokyopop's Fake, Gravitation and Earthian).
Also, Borders doesn't charge you for their loyalty (Rewards) card, while B & N charges you $25/yr. Borders emails you 20-40% coupons almost constantly if you shop there at all. I really hope Borders manages to survive and prosper in these times... |
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FeralKat
Posts: 402 |
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My Borders used to have a really bad manga cow problem. To the point the employees wouldn't even bother to organize the shelves anymore.
They fixed it when they rearranged the entire store. They moved the entire manga section to the middle of the store, behind the customer service booth, in a box-like formation. The traffic there is high, so it makes it hard for manga cows to proliferate now. 
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GeorgeC
Posts: 795 |
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Borders is in pretty bad shape right now...
But it's been in sorry shape for years now. They've cut down their CD/music section tremendously because hardly anybody buys music in stores anymore; the DVD section is also a lot smaller because, again, the market is shrinking there. These changes happened within the past 18 months. The anime section is practically gone -- but then again Borders never really could compete with online vendors or Best Buy in pricing, either. Look, I like Borders better than B & N any day of the week but B & N is in much better financial shape. I'm not exactly what it is but I suspect B & N is being managed better than Borders and just never took some of those crazy marketing scheme pushes Borders has. I'm actually annoyed at the changes in Borders of late as far as the manga section goes... It just reeks of desperation and (once again!) the stores have been reorganized because some district managers think rearranging sections and partially repurposing the stores for manga and Twilight (along with stacking Sci Fi/Fantasy near those sections) is going to save Borders! Redoing the stores to suit tweenies or teens probably isn't going to work. They're just too faddish of customers and will move on to the next thing. We're already well into the decline of manga (though not nearly as bad as anime), too. (As a longtime customer of many places I NEVER like store reorganizations. It just throws off your browsing habits and adds irritation to the process of scanning for that special something you just might buy. For the ultra-impatient and impulsive types that want to find something right away it may even drive them AWAY from the stores, too.) Decreasing the DVD section has made me go to Borders less for those hard-to-find movies and I refuse to pre-pay (or whatever new policy there is) for DVDs that aren't in stock at the store. I was also never crazy about the fact that I can't use Rewards discount coupons on special-orders, either. As great as the 25%-30% coupons have been it again reeks of desperation to boost sales. You don't have months-on-end of sales unless you're ultra-desperate for business. The bottom-line just isn't being met in many locations. Many Borders have already been closed including the flagship store in downtown Chicago (Mag Mile) as well as its uptown sister store. 200 of the remaining 340 or so Waldenbooks are being shuttered early next year, too. We just got notice in Columbus that the store at the Polaris location (a Waldenbooks) is being closed, too, and it was in trouble even before a B & N relocated next door. I suspect that at least one of the two Borders locations in our area will close in the next two years as well. There's always a possibility a re-organized, thinned down Borders could turn around and survive but I suspect we're seeing another company go through a long decline just like Sears, K-Mart, and Toys 'R Us have been going through for many years, too. The economy's changing... Lots of us -- who even still have jobs -- are changing our spending habits and are cutting down on disposable income spending. Besides that, there is again that unpredictable very faddish nature of tween/teen spending, too. Their spending habits are dictated by their families' financial situation, too. |
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TsukasaElkKite
 Posts: 3954 |
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THIS. I freaking HATE it when the cows are sprawled in the aisles, prime for me to trip over. I usually just kick them and snap "this isn't a lending library!" |
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