Battle of the Bookstores

I love Borders.
Absolutely. They have a huge, diverse selection of books, comfy chairs to read and relax in, a fun section for kids to play and read, a cafe with food, drinks, and sometimes there's live music. And while you're relaxing with a hot beverage and waiting for others in your shopping party to decide what to buy, you can open your laptop and surf the web with Borders's free wi-fi connection. Borders stores also support local organizations with small fundraising events in stores. Plus my favorite authors often tour to the Chicagoland Borders, which makes me endlessly happy.

One of my favorite places in the world was a certain 4-story Borders in downtown Chicago. The basement level contained the children's section, Romance section, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror and Manga all in one level. It was heavenly. Sadly, that Chicago borders closed. *tear* BUT there are still 4 other Borders downtown, so I don't feel so bad. =D

Back in the day, I even followed Borders Inc. on the stock market for my economics class assignment. I learned quite a bit, including that the Borders Books Music & Cafe is reducing the Music-selling section because not many people go there to buy music anymore. It also doesn't help that the majority of people buy music online or simply pirate it instead of going out and purchasing CDs. On the other hand, I've noticed an increase in the number of books and the movies/tv show section has been growing over the past few years.

When I came back to Grand Rapids last year for college in the fall, I was super dissappointed to find out that the Walden Books (owned by Borders) at Woodland Mall closed and was replaced by a super big Barnes & Nobles. There went all my 40% off coupons. I was impressed by the amount of books in the new Barnes & Nobles, but not by the customer service. I've not had a problem at other B&Ns, but the people who work at that one are very rude.

I asked for help finding a display that was moved and the lady looked me in the face, said "I don't know where it was moved" stared at me a moment longer, turned around and left. No "I'll find out" or "you can ask so-and-so over there. He/she will be able to find out". Nope! Just the cold shoulder.
Another time I went back, my friends and I had recently seen Avatar in theaters (for the 3rd time) and walked into the Barned & Nobles to find a few displays with Avatar information books & figurines. Of course, we scuttled over there pretty fast and began going through it excitedly. Then this guy (an B&N employee) told us not to touch the display and mess it up. What the hell? We're obviously all over 21 and he treats us like a bunch of rabid 5-yr-olds! On top of that, it's illogical to tell us not to look at the books...at a bookstore... where the purpose is for people to browse books, chose one or more, and buy them. So stupid! That was the last time I went to a B&N.

Another complaint for B&Ns are the selection of books. The stores are much too picky about what types of books they have. For instance, my roommate wanted to buy and read a good romance novel because she had never specifically read one. She wanted it for entertainment purposes and as research for incorporating romantic relationships in a fiction story she'd been workin on. We get to the Romance aisle and what do I find? Tons of historicals! I do enjoy historical romance stories every once in a great while but really, they're not in vogue. As I've pointed out before, the paranormal/supernatural subgenres are highly popular, especially in romance.

My friend also likes paranormal-action novels so I thought I'd get her a romance novel that is in the paranormal-action subgeneres. You guessed it, I couldn't find much. There were too many historical and not enough paranormals (which is most of the romance market right now!). I eneded up getting her a romantica book, which had too much sex in it for her, which is fine. Not everyone likes to read 15 page long sex scense. My point is though, there wasn't much to chose from. B&N are prudes. They don't want certain romance books dirtying their store shelves. Ugh. So annoying. Borders has such better selections.

There is one thing I like about B&Ns and that is the stationary, journals, notebooks, umbrellas and such. They're pretty spiffy. Too bad for them I won't buy them because they're so damned expensive! Sometimes good deal are found at Barnes & Nobles. But there are always great prices at Borders.
Barnes & Nobles: pay for membership w/ sparse & crappy coupons.
Borders: free memebership w/ awesome coupons that are e-mailed out weekly.

I suppose that's enough to adequately explain my dislike for Barnes & Nobles. They just aren't as good, even if they might be a more profitable company. When I was much younger, my friend Sarah and I joked that we'd go into business and open a store that's half a bookstore and the other half an anime/manga store. I still think that's a cool idea, though I do not intend to follow through with it.