That's what the Atlantic is wondering.
From the piece...
"Needless to say, I'll never shop at Borders online again." That's Kevin Drum, discovering that Borders apparently doesn't discount its online books--at least, books that aren't bestsellers.
A lot of people seem to have decided not to shop at Borders, lately. The company's been struggling for years, as eBooks and Amazon cut into its market. Unlike Barnes and Noble, the company never really successfully transitioned to digital, leaving it with a lot of physical inventory and real estate assets that are rapidly becoming albatrosses with declining sales. The company is desperately trying to renegotiate its debt, including payments to vendors. And now ugly rumors are flying that management is telling people to start looking for other jobs:
This is rumor, since I can't get anyone to go on record, but multiple sources (all of whom are employed by Borders) are telling me that employees of several different Borders stores were told during conference calls this week that "things are bad" and "if they have an opportunity for employment elsewhere, they should take it." This comes on the heels of last Friday's stock slide after news that Borders was missing payments to creditors. Personally, I hope they are wrong. I like Borders. They've always been very supportive of me.
Personally I hope they're wrong, too; like most writers, I like bookshops. I suspect most of us had our destiny shaped while we were sandwiched behind the bookshelves at our local dealer.
And what will life be like after Borders? A question Publisher's Weekly tackles, here.
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