Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Catholic Church Vandalized | Americans Are Morons »

Monday, January 5, 2009

Books It Begins

Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 11:07 AM

Borders CEO George Jones has been replaced in what this publisher is calling a coup.

The press release covers all the upper management changes and then tucks the company's awful financial Christmas news at the end:

Borders Group also released its sales results for the nine-week holiday period ended Jan. 3, 2009. Total consolidated sales were $868.8 million, an 11.7% decline compared to the same period last year. Within the Borders superstore segment, total sales for the holiday period were $652.6 million, which is a 13.6% decrease compared to 2007. Comparable store sales at Borders superstores declined by 14.4% compared to the same period a year ago. On a same-store sales basis, the book category at Borders declined by 11.0% for the period. Borders.com sales for the nine-week holiday period were $20.3 million. Overall, holiday sales started slow and improved during the latter part of the season.

Within the Waldenbooks Specialty Retail segment, total sales for the holiday period were $161.7 million, a 16.4% decrease compared to the same period one year ago. Comparable store sales for Waldenbooks declined by 8.0% compared to holiday 2007.

So long, George Jones.

Comments (13) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

They are losing to Amazon. Badly.

Posted by sgiffy on January 5, 2009 at 11:50 AM

I'll preface this by saying I have no idea what I'm talking about, but an 11-16% drop in same store sales doesn't sound that bad to me in the current economic environment. I think I read that Amazon's sales improved, but that included items other than books; is this really that bad? Flame away.

Posted by Banna on January 5, 2009 at 11:50 AM

Buried below what you found buried in that same press release is the tidbit that the New York Stock Exchange last week warned it would delist Borders unless it could raise its average stock price and market cap. Delisting would bring about credit troubles Borders would have trouble surviving. They gotta show good faith and pump the stock price by axing execs. Next comes layoffs and closings if this doesn't work quickly.

Eep.

Posted by tomasyalba on January 5, 2009 at 11:51 AM

Bigger isn't better, booksellers.

Posted by T. Pynchon on January 5, 2009 at 12:05 PM

So, if business is worse, they halved the CEO salary and exit compensation, right?

(mutter)

Let me guess, they increased it ...

Posted by Will in Seattle on January 5, 2009 at 12:09 PM

They couldn't go on together, with suspicious minds.

Posted by NapoleonXIV on January 5, 2009 at 12:33 PM

Rumors of Borders demise have been around for a while. They've had talks about being acquired by Barnes & Noble, which makes sense & would surely reduce the number of remaining Borders stores.

I don't see Borders surviving for even another year. They're already closing at least five more stores (Tempe, Santa Monica, Cincinnati...) -- on top of many others closed in the last few years, including downtown Minneapolis & several stores on Chicago's thriving north side.

Posted by blackhook on January 5, 2009 at 12:36 PM

We got a 50% off coupon the other day via email, then a rapid followup stating it was only good for the closing of a store in Sacramento.

Posted by digimediafinance.com on January 5, 2009 at 1:08 PM

Waaa. I prefer Borders to Barnes & Noble. The people who work at Borders seem to actually be the sort that READ books. Of course that could just be my rude and slanted perception since one of my really good friends works at Borders.

I don't see how they are going to survive another year either. Sigh. My friend really needs to keep her job.

On a tangentially related note, did you guys see that Waterford/Wedgwood filed for bankrupty protection? And so the bloodbath of '09 begins with the crashing of expensive china and crystal. Who will be next?

Posted by PopTart on January 5, 2009 at 2:23 PM

Ooh, that's bad news PopTart, my mom loves those dishes.

Posted by Will in Seattle on January 5, 2009 at 2:48 PM

PopTart,

I have exactly the opposite impression. Barnes and Nobles almost always has someone who knows the types of books I'm looking for and can have an intelligent conversation about them... whether that's history, sci fi, fantasty, theology, or cooking.

The last few times I've gone to Borders, I've found one or two people who could do that. The majority of their staff gave me a blank look and said "let's go look that up on the computer."

That said, I don't avoid Borders. They're usually cheaper and they're closer to home for me... I just shop quick when I'm there.

Posted by Pastor's Son on January 5, 2009 at 3:12 PM

The "which chain is better" debate is pointless. Each store is different. There are many outstanding Borders and B&N stores, and there are many poor ones.

Posted by Lancelot Lovejoy on January 5, 2009 at 9:11 PM

I work at Borders because I love books. I have been there for almost 6 years. They are squeezing the people who have anything to offer customers out in favor of college students or just desperate people who are willing to work under 19 hours and under $8/hr. We have 4 full time employees in our store that are not members of management. The only way I can afford to work at Borders is because I have the insurance they are required to offer full time employees. That is likely going to change in the next few weeks when they force all full time employees to part time. This will reduce their financial burden, but unfortunately, it will mean that all four of our educated and experienced booksellers will be looking for new jobs. We won't even be eligible for unemployment because they are offering us part time positions. Way to go Borders. Kill everything that was good in the company. I am sure that will turn it around. I am so disgusted.... resigned.... no, just sad and disappointed.

Posted by BrokenByBorders on January 6, 2009 at 10:30 AM