I need a few more days to play catch up, and especially to assemble a linkbucket. Good god, the litblog world was busy in May.
But in the meantime...I went to a Borders concept store grand opening yesterday. Amazingly for me, I walked out empty-handed. But I'm still behind on the ol' TBR pile, so no harm.
There were three things the Concept Store had that were improvements over non-concept (inconceivable?) stores:
1. The bargain books were very close to the front door, a la B&N. I prefer this because it's a good pre-cashwrap meeting area, and gives whoever's waiting there first something to do.
2. There is a fold-down stepstool for kids at the sink in the restroom.
3. Free squares of Ghiradelli chocolate at the door. Although that was probably a grand opening thing, we agreed in the car later that this should be a permanent standard feature at all chain stores.
Four things about the Concept Store that, well, sucked:
1. The principal destination areas -- Travel, Cooking, and Wellness -- are all things I get from the Internet rather than the bookstore, as are all of the Family Tree, Music, and Self-Publishing kiosk products. No one else seemed wildly interested in any of them, either -- most of the foot traffic seemed to be in two less pimped destination areas, Graphic Novels (which was totally meh but probably better than B&N) and...
2. ...the downright infuriating Children's section, in which I heard three other parents make reference to the fact that supposedly Borders is a BOOKSTORE, and why was there suddenly much more non-book crap than there used to be?
3. I don't know enough about interior design to explain why, but the new diagonally oriented layout guaranteed that I was constantly bumping into people, stepping out of other people's way, encountering blind corners, unable to reach product even though every other book was faced out (with plastic forms behind them! ugh!), and so on.
4. Thanks to all of the above, which sections seemed to lose a lot of real estate? Guess!
I used to be a bookseller, so I understand some of the harsh reality here -- particularly the Wellness Area of Pimpage. I know that my corner of the world wouldn't really support a McNally Robinson. But the whole Let Us Help You Do Things That You Can Do On Your Own Computer section, to my mind, is doomed. My baby boomer parents, to whom that section is undoubtedly targeted, know that seven songs on a CD for $9 is a ripoff compared even to iTunes.
Anyway. Back in a few days...hopefully more caught up!
But in the meantime...I went to a Borders concept store grand opening yesterday. Amazingly for me, I walked out empty-handed. But I'm still behind on the ol' TBR pile, so no harm.
There were three things the Concept Store had that were improvements over non-concept (inconceivable?) stores:
1. The bargain books were very close to the front door, a la B&N. I prefer this because it's a good pre-cashwrap meeting area, and gives whoever's waiting there first something to do.
2. There is a fold-down stepstool for kids at the sink in the restroom.
3. Free squares of Ghiradelli chocolate at the door. Although that was probably a grand opening thing, we agreed in the car later that this should be a permanent standard feature at all chain stores.
Four things about the Concept Store that, well, sucked:
1. The principal destination areas -- Travel, Cooking, and Wellness -- are all things I get from the Internet rather than the bookstore, as are all of the Family Tree, Music, and Self-Publishing kiosk products. No one else seemed wildly interested in any of them, either -- most of the foot traffic seemed to be in two less pimped destination areas, Graphic Novels (which was totally meh but probably better than B&N) and...
2. ...the downright infuriating Children's section, in which I heard three other parents make reference to the fact that supposedly Borders is a BOOKSTORE, and why was there suddenly much more non-book crap than there used to be?
3. I don't know enough about interior design to explain why, but the new diagonally oriented layout guaranteed that I was constantly bumping into people, stepping out of other people's way, encountering blind corners, unable to reach product even though every other book was faced out (with plastic forms behind them! ugh!), and so on.
4. Thanks to all of the above, which sections seemed to lose a lot of real estate? Guess!
I used to be a bookseller, so I understand some of the harsh reality here -- particularly the Wellness Area of Pimpage. I know that my corner of the world wouldn't really support a McNally Robinson. But the whole Let Us Help You Do Things That You Can Do On Your Own Computer section, to my mind, is doomed. My baby boomer parents, to whom that section is undoubtedly targeted, know that seven songs on a CD for $9 is a ripoff compared even to iTunes.
Anyway. Back in a few days...hopefully more caught up!
Recent Comments