Leaving Borders behind

For a long time, I wanted to live in the four-story Borders on Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

Whenever we went into the city to shop or go to a show or have dinner (which was fairly regularly, as my hometown is in the region, about 45 minutes outside of Chicago proper), stopping at the Michigan Avenue Borders was a must. Not only were there four floors of books, which is terribly exciting itself, but the second floor café overlooked both the old Water Tower Place and the beautiful hustle and bustle of Michigan Avenue shoppers below. At twilight during Christmas time, I could sit in the warm café with a new book and a cup of coffee, gazing out as the holiday lights and wreaths that illuminate the city flickered to life.

For years I could imagine no more perfect place in the entire world. I harbored a secret desire to set up a sleeping bag on the lower level and live in the poetry section.

That Borders is empty now, completely closed down. The giant bookstore chain has undergone many financial troubles, culminating in its filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week. As a result of the filing, Borders will have to close another 200 of its stores nationwide. These next 200 are in addition to those underperforming stores they have already been closing in the past few years, like the one in Bloomington by College Mall and my aforementioned personal favorite in Chicago.

The rise of e-readers and the shift to buying books online, especially from Amazon, has made it hard for chains like Borders to compete. Several news sources have been quick to point out the irony: Big bookstore chains like Borders pushed many small mom-and-pop stores out of business in the first place, but those same small stores are managing to adapt to the changing industry more easily than the giant chains.

At first, the fall of Borders may seem good for small stores and rival corporate booksellers like Barnes & Noble. After all, no Borders means bibliophiles have to get their books elsewhere. Half the joy of going to a bookstore instead of shopping online is the atmosphere, and for that, many will argue that Barnes & Noble and smaller bookstores are more inviting to sit and relax anyway.

But I fear it may be yet another sign of the end of the traditional bookstore as a concept, and while that may be inevitable, it’s still depressing. Borders’ bankruptcy isn’t just a corporate reorganization to me. It’s the end of an era we will someday look back on, an era when sitting in a store devoted to physical books wasn’t considered quaint but a million-dollar business.


E-mail: mebinder@indiana.edu