The End: Borders To Shut Down?
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The e-book era has claimed another significant brand. Borders is shutting down for good. There were hopes that the company could be rescued somehow. But as the latest deal has fallen through, Borders is very close to being liquidated and closing its shops for good. A buyer could still emerge before Tuesday’s liquidation auction but things do not look promising.
Unfortunately, 11K employees are going to lose their jobs with this development. To be fair, Borders was slow to keep up with the changes in the publishing industry. With the emergence of devices such as Kindle, people are feeling more comfortable with the idea of reading e-books on these tiny devices. Besides, e-books are often cheaper than paper books, which helps their cause in these tough economic conditions.
We do agree with PC World’s analysis that Borders would still collapse even without the rise of e-books. The company made many mistakes along the way. So what happens to Kobo customers? Kobo will continue its operation without any interruption:
In June Kobo and Borders began transitioning Borders’ customers’ eBook accounts to Kobo to provide direct access to the most up to date eReading functionality, apps, and devices. Kobo owners will continue to use their eReader devices as usual and browse and shop for new titles in the Kobo Store with no interruption in service.
Let’s hope those who will lose their jobs over this development (many of them are book experts) will find positions within the industry. It is sad to see Borders go but its business model became unsustainable a while ago.
What will you miss about Borders?
