The Fall of Big-Box Bookstores: Nostalgia or Acceptance?

By Chris Stamas

For the first time in decades, a bookstore will not lie on Chicago's Magnificent Mile. Borders, the big-box bookstore chain, recently decided to close its doors in the most popular shopping district in the Windy City.

That's right, one of the biggest cities in America lacks a bookstore on its most famous retail street.

After looking further into Borders' situation, it is apparent that the company is facing dire times.

The facts aren't pretty.

Borders owes millions of dollars to several dozen publishers, many of whom have stopped sending shipments to the retail store in response

Company shares have fallen 34 percent over the last 12 months largely due to operating losses for three quarters in a row.  Currently, the stock stands at 92¢ per share.

To make things worse, with upper management in the process of renegotiating debt, rumors have surfaced that employees have been told to accept employment elsewhere if the opportunity presents itself.

With big-box bookstores trampling independent bookstores for some time now, there is no one left to fill the void should they go under.

Which left me thinking, will I miss bookstores if they cease to exist?

It's easy to be nostalgic, and my first reaction to Borders' troubles was to lament. Without bookstores, I could no longer stand amongst the vast array of books, music and movies, overwhelmed with the number of items that could potentially entertain me. Borders and Barnes & Noble were always places to pass the time, perusing the endless merchandise and perhaps diving into a magazine over coffee.

I'd be sad to give up that experience, but I realized it was my time-passing relationship with bookstores that was exactly their problem.

Big-box bookstores turned into a place to look and not buy. Put simply, their prices are no longer competitive.

Amazon offers far cheaper products and websites like half.com allow customers to buy used books in the range of three to five dollars, a fraction of a bookstore's price.

Not only do websites offer cheaper prices, but they also carry a far greater selection.

Many times, I've been recommended a book that my local bookstore does not carry.

Instead of waiting for the bookstore to order it and notify me upon arrival, I can have Amazon ship the book to my door within three to five days. I could finish the book before the bookstore would even receive it.

The other major obstacle to bookstores' success is the e-reader movement.  

Products such as the iPad and Kindle are allowing people to buy books directly on their device, making a trip to the bookstore obsolete.

Like many other industries, bookstores are fighting a battle against the Internet, and losing.

Some say that independent bookstores will rise up again, but I disagree. The only way bookstores can compete is to adapt to the digital age, which seems increasingly hard.

Of course, only looking at the negatives, the situation seems depressing.

But Amazon has single handedly made our lives cheaper and easier and e-books seem to be the way of the future.

Nowadays, I can have my hands on practically any book ever published within days, if not seconds. It's not too bad of a situation.

Who knows, maybe Borders can recover and bookstores can reverse their decline.

I'm not counting on it.

In the meantime, I recommend supporting your local bookstore because they may not be here to stay.  

Chris Stamas is a senior political science major.