How Borders collapsed while Barnes & Noble flourished

The retail industry is very competitive these days, especially here in the Triad. Back then, it was big-box retailers competing with small locally-owned businesses, and now it's basically online retailers competing with the big-box stores. Small businesses here in the Piedmont are still flourishing as of now, but what about the big boys in retail? They're trying the best they can to adapt the changing times, and the book industry is one example. I'm going to focus on two specialty booksellers in this post, and I will talk about how one flourished, while the other is currenty facing liquidation.

As many of you know by now, Borders Group announced that they were going out of business, closing all of their 399 stores (including the Winston-Salem location) and eliminating 10,700 jobs. Many people are wondering what caused Borders to fail while its larger rival Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) is still thriving. The answer? Barnes & Noble developed its own eReader, something Borders failed to do. Barnes & Noble itself was falling behind Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) during the time the Amazon Kindle was launched, but was finally able to catch up in 2009 when they introduced the Nook, which proved to be very popular with consumers. Books-A-Million (NASDAQ:BAMM), which recently took Borders' throne as the second-biggest bookseller in the United States, even has a deal with B&N to sell the Nook. But, the question we keep asking is why did Borders fail? Sure, they had eReaders available at their stores, but they couldn't come up with an eReader of their own like Barnes & Noble did with the Nook. Instead, they sold an imported eReader from Canada called the Kobo (manufactured by the Canadian company of the same name), which has not been very popular in the US so far.

Not only was failure to shift themselves into our modern digital world the case for Borders, but while a B&N employee was helping me find a book I wanted called "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn", he said to me that their (B&N's) rival's poor management (which dates back to the chain's ownership by Kmart back in the 90's) and poor customer service was a factor as well. Even though Barnes & Noble has been rumored to have a buyer (Liberty Media) earlier this summer, there's no question that they're doing just fine, despite the liquidation of their biggest competitor. One lesson learned in retail (and from the liquidation of Borders) is, if a business sticks to an old fashioned business model for a long time during a changing world, it can be dangerous. And, when you finally decide that you want to change that business model, you realize it's too late to do anything about it.

Borders to close all remaining bookstores, including Winston-Salem location

Borders Group, the second largest bookstore chain in the United States is the latest victim of our struggling economy. The Michigan-based company couldn't find a buyer to keep its doors open, and now has announced it will be going out of business. It will be closing all of its remaining 399 stores by September, including one in Winston-Salem. The liquidation plan means that all 10,700 Borders employees, including 400 working in their flagship store in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will lose their jobs this Fall. So far, there is no word on how many employees work in the Winston-Salem location.

Borders could not overcome larger rivals like Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), both of which now dominate the US book industry after it shifted largely online. One of the reasons is because they could never come up with an eReader of their own, like Amazon's Kindle, and Barnes & Noble's Nook. Instead, they were relying on selling an eReader made in Canada known as the Kobo eReader, which is not very popular among US consumers.

Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, hoping to emerge as a more competitive force in the book industry. However, not even an attempted bid from an Arizona buyout firm could save them from the decision they made today. Books-A-Million (NASDAQ:BAMM) has announced that it was interested in buying 50 vacant areas where Borders stores were originally located. It is unknown if this includes the Greensboro or the soon-to-be-closed Winston-Salem location.

English Teacher/Athletic Director At Local Church-owned School Becomes New Administrator

In 2009, Mr. Matthew Doyle became an English teacher at Hayworth Christian School, and had no idea what to expect. He also became the athletic director for the school that same year. Now, even more changes are headed towards his career at Hayworth. This summer, he has been announced as the new administrator at Hayworth Christian School, and he is deeply excited about getting this new position. "It's different from teaching because there are a lot more responsibilities you have to face", says Doyle. "However, there is still teaching involved." During his tenure as a teacher, his subjects included American Literature, Writing, History, and the classes he was assigned to teach were the 7th & 8th grades, and High School juniors. Hayworth Christian School, a private school teaching K-12, is affiliated with the Hayworth Wesleyan Church on Westchester Drive in High Point, and has been operating since 1996. Doyle's tenure as their administrator will begin during their 2011-2012 school year.

Welcome

Welcome to the all-new Triad Tribune! We are a brand new independently-owned online newspaper located in High Point, North Carolina dedicated to bringing you some of the best local information in the area. Right now, we are still currently under construction, but we have many great new things in store for you. From local news to movie reviews, and from restaurant reviews to some other stuff going on in the community, we are committed to be one of the best local news sources in the Piedmont. Check back soon.