Borders

Dearest Borders–
The news of your demise saddens me so. While friends have links with Barnes and Noble, you were always the place for me. I felt comfortable looking through the music section, checking out the language reference area, and what have you. I loved your bargain books and your coupons.
When I wasn’t perusing what you had for sale, I enjoyed so much the events that you would have. I skipped class often to see a band I loved, and hear poetry read. You filled my poetry void when Shaman Drum closed and let me meet Billy Collins. I was shaking with excitement when I met him, and it was such a great experience. You also let my mom and I bond over her meeting her favorite author.
When I’d go to California, I’d take pride in saying that Borders was a Michigan establishment. It makes me sad that this downtown staple is no more.
You will not be forgotten. Thank you for all the glorious memories.

I spent an enormous amount of time (and money) at this Borders back in the day. A huge portion of the 2^nd floor was dedicated towards CDs, and as a music major I scoured through those shelves constantly. I also hung out for the first time with the boy I eventually married in this Borders, so this store holds a special little place in my heart. So sad to see store #1 close. Rest In Peace, Borders.

The Closing Week Borders Adventure
I came to experience the going out of business pandemonium first hand. Come on people, how many times is Borders going to go out of business. The sign said 7 days left on my visit during Labor Day weekend, September 4^th, 2011 to be exact. At this point, most items were 60 percent off. There was a throng of people in the store, but walking among the isles was not encumbered and I didn’t have trouble going through the titles on the shelves. The books were being shelved closer and closer to the entrance as there were less and less to buy. Entire sections of the store were closed off as there were no books there. The staff was fast at work moving books, tidying displays, and answering questions. One of the cashiers would welcome people to the store every ten minutes, and explain the sale prices and offer some jokes. There was a jovial spirit in the air.
With my daughter’s help, I picked up two books with cardboard dolls on the back cover and cut out costumes in the pages — Dress Up Doll Jade Fairy and Dress Up Doll Fantasy Fashion. Next, my daughter picked up The Chipmunks Squeakquel CD. That one will go straight onto here iPod and hopefully I never have to hear it. I sent the family on to the museum because I noticed no one else was shopping, and they noticed how long the line was. Free at last, I began to explore the shelves in earnest for big boy books. There were slim pickings left and Glen Beck seemed to be smirking at me from more genres then I would have expected. I found a bestseller and decided to pick it up so that I didn’t walk away empty handed. In Harms Way is about the rescue of sailors from the USS Indianapolis after a submarine sank it. At this point, I wasn’t sure whether I would find much else. Feeling bad that I wasn’t with my daughter at the museum — but didn’t they abandon me — I picked up a Thumbelina book. It had good illustrations. Next, I found the photography section and picked up three books. One on high definition resolution (HDR) imagery, another on photography as art, and a third on photography techniques. Next, I decided to explore the upstairs. No books here, just furniture, equipment, and the silent auction. You could buy shelves, keyboards, cleaning supplies, etc. The silent auction consisted of signed posters. Someone was offering 1 cent for one of them.
The line looked long, but moved fast. As I was waiting in line, I dumped some items that I decided I didn’t really need, a blu-​ray and another book I had picked up for my daughter that looked like a one-​time read. Next, I picked up a DVD set that included the first season of a TV show that I shall present to my wife as a gift, and, no, I won’t tell you what it is. You can ask her after I give it to her. There were four or five cashiers and mine was wearing cardboard bunny ears. After knocking off $ 1.72 from an almost spent gift card I was given by my father in law before he left the store, my total came to $ 78.59 with a savings of $ 113.66.

I’ll try to keep the whining to a minimum, but I must tell you — when I was a child, the one and only Borders in Ann Arbor was a revered establishment. I would always hear about this amazing place where every staff member was a literary expert (paid a living wage, to boot!), and you could find just about any book you could imagine. I know that in the age of
this is no big deal, but in the eighties, when all I had was a crappy B Dalton at the strip mall, that meant something.
Fast forward to now. Borders Store #1 is in the business of selling Harry Potter Scented Foot Cream. Books are not so important. Yes, it’s a sign of the times; people would rather pamper their feet than read, and perhaps that isn’t Borders fault. But let this also be a warning — when cool businesses franchise, they get sucky.
The only thing I ever buy at Borders are the $ 3 blank journals. What a deal! I write almost every day and one journal lasts me a couple months. These are durable and fit into almost any size purse. The best thing is that these are sold at the front of the store, just to the left as you walk in the front door. Keeps your visit brief.

The employee that I so strongly recommended is no longer at this store, which is too bad, but I can understand some burn-​out working at this store.
Often, when I check the inventory, the computer will tell me something «may be» in the store. And then a hunt ensues. Sometimes I have to grab an employee, but that doesn’t seem to help much with the search.
In terms of finding things or customer service, the Arborland location seems a lot stronger. This store still hosts some solid events now and then, but I don’t find myself here all that often.
Sadly Shaman is gone, but most of the time, I’d rather check Nicola’s or order online than go through the where-​is-​it-​shuffle in here.

When I heard that Ann Arbor had the first ever Borders I was pretty excited, having been quite a book fiend in my past life. This, however, is not the first Borders.
As my step-​father will constantly remind me, looking down, shaking his head and painfully reminiscing, Borders moved from its first location, franchised and sold out, both literally and figuratively. And for all of my eye rolling at these types of stories, it really does show in this case.
First of all, this Borders has a pretty awful selection of books. I don’t know how it compares to other bookstores, but it’s much worse than the Barnes & Nobles I go to regularly (oh shoot, I have to review that too!) All bookstores have suffered the fate of having bright, colorful pop culture crap thrust onto the center stage of their stores, but with Borders limited selection, there isn’t anything else. At least at a better-​stocked store you can dig through Oprah’s Book Club books and find some treasures.
Other than that, for some reason walking around this place always gives me a cold sweat. That may be my dysfunctional internal thermometer, but it happens regularly here and could just as easily be explained as a symptom of utter boredom and sadness. Maybe I just don’t like bookstores anymore, which would be depressing. But maybe Borders let me down.
Oh, on the plus side, and why there are two stars here, I do like that they have a section about Ann Arbor and Michigan history and folklore and such. Nice local touch. Not enough to cure my ills, though.

I hadn’t been to this Borders for months. Yesterday I was astounded at the way it had changed for the worse. It’s full of big, gaping empty spaces where there used to be shelving units full of books. I asked a sales person, who agreed with my observation: yes, they HAVE taken out a lot of books. The cookbook section, for example, offers only maybe ²⁄₃ or even ½ of the prior quantity — and of course that means mostly celebrity chefs, few of the «meatier» cookbooks.
Sad.

Pros:
— Warmer than Starbucks, which has a lot of drafts near the windows
— The women who work at the coffee shop upstairs are total sweehearts. Like, super nice.
— It’s well-​lit and not too loud.
— Bathrooms are fairly clean.
— The kind of nerdy tall guy with brown hair who I think is some kind of manager is knowledgeable and very helpful for finding books.
— Good book selection.
Cons:
— The guy who rung me up was either incompetent or cranky. I asked for some fairly straightforward things (gift wrap, a gift receipt) and he acted really annoyed and overburdened by these requests. He also didn’t do a great wrapping job. He also had to call over his supervisor like 3 times for things that seemed pretty straightforward.
Overall, much like any other Borders.

This Borders is like any other Borders. It’s a chain which in the middle of downtown Ann Arbor is sort of out of place. However, the outside of the building does help it blend into the Ann Arbor landscape. I came here many times when visiting my now fiancé when he went here (I of course attended the better school in Michigan… MSU!). We enjoyed looking at books in here and escaping the often cold air outside. They have clean restrooms and the store is tidy! (extra star for that :))

The new phone number for Borders is (734) 668‑7652.

+8 for the old days when there was the big old balcony setup, and the employees knew their literature. Minus a few because it really isn’t the same. I’ll still always be a Border’s fan — I still run into the Union Square location on Post every once in awhile just for the bathrooms.

Border’s #01 is first and foremost a Border’s Store, with all the same offerings as its younger siblings, but it somehow feels a little different being that its #01 and just down the street from where the whole chain started. It’s fun to walk around when you have some time to kill downtown and there is always a good number of customers walking around the store.
The store still feels like a corporate store but it does have tiny patches of personality like the telltale inclines on the floor resulting from merging several older buildings together, or the seemingly out of place hutch behind the checkout counter. Otherwise, the features are run of the mill, one can find sections for books, dvds, music, also a Seattle’s Best Coffee, and a big waste of space called Paperchase. The bathrooms are usually not the cleanest in the world (something I notice at many big bookstores)

I like book stores, I love locally owned businesses, but some are the people who work here are idiots.