Borders Books Music & Cafe

Borders: A Requiem
Readers and eaters and buyers and browsers,
Students with midterms and kids going «Wowsers!»
Book after book with the wonder they bring,
Borders has all of my favorite things.
Or «had.» Damnit, I still can’t bring myself to refer to my favorite store in the past tense.
Why’d you have to leave us, Borders? You were the embodiment of my teenage years, where I’d go to meet for study groups and where I’d spend long Sunday afternoons. You were also integral for my twenties, where I could meet a friend (any friend) or do my Christmas shopping. The wonder I’d find searching through each aisle and discovering a minor miracle, all the awe and insight each book promised.
I used to drive an hour to get to this store in particular, and living five minutes away now meant all the more time spent amongst its shelves. I’ll never forget the first time I stopped in: my dog had taken an unexpected dip into the river and we spent ages trying to find a place to de-​mudify him, so miserable and soaking wet my family and I stopped in (after first making good use of the Pet Co next door) and the store was the best part of that afternoon and many more to come. The Christmas season was a sight to behold and offered unparalleled proof of the successes of Capitalism. Life won’t be the same without Borders, I can’t flip through the pages or enjoy the fabulous bookstore smell at Amazon and Barnes & Noble has always been to snobbish and uppity for me.
Please don’t make me say goodbye.

Personally, I love this Borders. It’s not so huge that you feel like the store is its own city with different neighborhoods. Too-​big-​Borders annoy me. But I have a few friends who think this one’s just too small and doesn’t have enough.
They’ve had enough for me to do my Christmas shopping and get all my Paper Chase goodies, journals, etc. Whatever they don’t have, they’ll offer to order in for you.
There’s also a coffee shop, per Borders standards.

This is one of the smaller Borders and I called to see if they happened to have a copy of Black Lamb & Grey Falcon that I needed the same day. It isn’t exactly on the top 100 books of all time lists, so I was pleasantly surprised and quite relieved to find that they had a copy and it was the new, updated version. They held it for me and I came in to claim it.
Not only did they have the book I was looking for, but they also had a bunch of books that I had never heard of and had no intention of buying; however, the subjects were right down my alley and located on the clearance racks. This is my kryptonite. I left with ten books.

I called here the other night, on a whim, to see if they had a book I wanted to get for a friend of mine. They had it, and volunteered to put it on hold so it would be an easier pick-​up.
This wasn’t my first time here, and the staff has always been helpful but there was one reason I wanted to add a review. I think customer service is so important…
When I got there to pick up my original book, I thought of another children’s book that I wanted. The only problem was I couldn’t recall the author or title. (Ridiculous, I know.) The first person to help me, realized that a lady they have that works there in the children’s dept. was there as a shopper with her own children. He asked her to help me and she didn’t hesitate. From my description, the two of them were able to locate the book and I was thrilled.
While there may be bigger, or better shops… the staff is why I would choose this location or store over others.

This is my favorite Borders location. They’re so conveniently located, right near Fox Valley mall (or Westfield I think it’s called now???) and all the nearby strip malls. Just right for stopping in during a day or night of shopping.
I primarily shop for manga in new bookstores — and this Borders has one of the best manga sections I’ve ever seen. It’s spacious and has a wide selection.
Borders is always my bookstore of choice, mostly because of their Borders Rewards program. I save a lot of money over the year with that program. Their website also offers free «ship to store» shipping options — and this location is the most convenient for me to pick things up from.
The staff is always friendly. No more so than other stores, but definitely no less so, either.

Very good location, good customer service, and fun live entertainment on weekend evenings.
Could improve the stock however, based on my online inventory searches I am usually better off at the Wheaton location.
The café is a little sacrificed though, with cramped situations on those evenings featuring entertainment.