Borders Bankruptcy

The news broke recently that Borders, the second largest bookstore chain in America, is declaring bankruptcy.

It is stories like this that make me cringe, and even feel a little bit guilty about my frugal ways.

The claim is that the old "brick and mortar" stores are losing ground, to the online retailers and the e-readers, etc.  That may be true, but as more and more people are hit with tough times financially, they are cutting back, like I did.   

No more buying books.  No more love affairs with cookbooks.  No collection of coffee table books in the living room or bathroom trivia books tucked next to the vanity.  No silly books given as random day gifts or gags.

Borders and other bookstores have lost much of my business, but it didn't go to online retailers - it went to the library and it went to Goodwill and to book swaps among friends.

I feel a bit guilty, then, about leaving the bookstores behind, and

I love my library and all it has to offer, and I don't think I am alone.  This article from Long Island claims that library membership is at an all-time high.  Maybe then, that is the trouble.  One too many people, like me, choosing to borrow a book instead of buy it.  Letting the library spend the money and take the risk that the book won't be any good.

So I am torn. 

On the one hand, I love that perhaps people are using the library.  I love that people are perhaps making a conscious effort to reduce needless spending and to reduce the clutter in their homes (I move a lot, I am well-aware how much a book-addiction costs in heavy boxes and U-haul space!).  I love that I have made that change.  I love my library-sponsored book club, and I love being able to grab a cook book just for one recipe or a few new ideas.

On the other hand, my library doesn't have the selection of the bookstore. I can never open a crisp, uncreased book from the library the way I can a book from the bookstore.  I can't look at a five or 10 year old book and know where every wrinkle and stain came from, remember where I was and how I felt when I bent the cover that way or dropped that book in the bathtub.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy doesn't mean Borders will be gone forever, and I hope they come back better, and stronger then ever, just as I did after my own bankruptcy. 

I wonder, though, if I will be their customer after the restructuring.