Following my resolution to get out of the office and my butt out of my chair each day, today I took advantage of the sunshine and walked downtown. It was gorgeous but bone-chilling cold (for Portland, that is). The walk seemed warmer on the way back to the office--either due to rising temperature or the uphill climb.
After a quick trip to the Nordstrom Rack to pick up some Burt's Bees lip shimmer and a new watch for my 14-year-old (I'm determined to get him wearing a watch so he learns to keep better track of time!), I stopped by the Borders Books downtown, which is going out of business this Friday.
It was probably beneficial that I walked all the way down there and back (nearly a mile each way), so I could only buy what I could comfortably carry. All of their already-marked down books were 2 for $1! What a steal! So I bought 17 books for $18.50. At this rate, I can read them and resell them at the secondhand store or post them on http://www.paperbackswap.com/. (What's left of the full-price DVDs, CDs, and books are 40 percent off.)
I just told my mother-in-law about the sale, and she replied: "I thought you were trying not to spend any money!" However, I corrected her: my resolution is to write down what I spend. And that I will do. I cannot pass up $0.50 per good book!
I have a feeling that Borders might be on its way down. They used to have stores in the UK, but they are closed now...and I don't think they've kept up with the pace of Barnes & Noble. I imagine that the shuttering of the downtown store will help Powell's, and that's a good thing.
Borders also had stores here in Australia but they sold the chain to another book retailer here, I think it was Dymocks. The Borders stores still exist with the Borders badging but they now form part of another chain. I guess it is hard competing with online retailers. At least you got some bargins.
ReplyDeleteI think a similar thing happened here with B Dalton or Waldenbooks. I just read an article by an author about why he is sad Borders seems to be going down: http://www.brendanhalpin.com/girlinacage/2011/01/why-i-dont-want-borders-to-fail.html
ReplyDeleteHe makes some excellent points. However, I've heard another first-time author express dismay with Borders and Barnes & Noble because they refuse to carry local books unless they are bestsellers. So it's a complicated issue.