Borders Books Music & Cafe

Just a shout-​out to this particular Borders, where I go to study and mooch-​read magazines. I love working in the café area, getting a drink during their summer happy hours and plodding along with my studying. 4 stars, not 5, simply because one of their two café workers has a real attitude; fortunately, the other is overly nice, probably to make up for her counterpart’s behavior. The Borders itself is nice, full of books, a great magazine selection, and even some remnants of their once-​luxurious music section.
Thanks, Borders, for letting me rent my table almost daily for a $ 2 drink.

Oh, Borders. So emblematic of all that went wrong with brick-​and-​mortar bookstores. The first floor is practically all non-​book junk: notebooks and greeting cards and pens, etc. Sigh.
I guess the computerized system is efficient, but I was almost offended that we spent 15 minutes in the store without a single person acknowledging our presence. There is absolutely no benefit to visiting the store, when I can find more books online for half the price. Even
cares about my reading habits more than Borders does.
Next time I want to visit a real bookstore, I’ll trek out to Reader’s Forum in Wayne. Borders, you’re dead to me!

Oh, do I have mixed feelings about this place. This store in particular and the chain in general.
I opened this Borders in 92(?) and a few others as well. Back then employees had to take a book test to work there. You didn’t just walk in after getting fired from the Gap and get a job at Borders and you didn’t get sent to Gullifty’s when you asked for Chateaubriand. This insistence on hiring college grads also meant the staff was full of people who were full of themselves, thinking they were too good for the job.
Nowadays there is no booktest and it often shows in the staff. On the other hand, the service is better and the employees are generally better workers. Which brings to mind the ancient Greek saying, «A healthy mind, a healthy body. Take your pick.»
Truthfully, the new computer system, available to the public, is really efficient and preferred by some people to a live bookseller. Maybe the new Borders is better in this regard.
The real tragedy is the book selection. Borders used to carry a huge selection of books. Not just best sellers or popular titles, but university press books, specialized books, hard to find titles that no other store would think of carrying. Customer after customer was shocked to find a long sought after book right there on the shelf.
Now, the selection is no better than Barnes and Noble from what I see and each year gets worse and worse. Sad.
The biggest problem nowadays is Amazon. I can save hundreds a year shopping at Amazon with their discounts and free shipping. The selection is unreal and they don’t engage in the kind of oppressive political censorship that Borders did and still does. Amazon has more of a community feel to it, with the reviews and message boards, than Borders does. What possible reason could I have for shopping here? The café maybe, or when I need a book right away and don’t want to wait the week for shipping.
Still, I do enjoy browsing Borders and hanging out there. I even make an occasional impulse buy. But like Frodo going back to the Shire, it just isn’t the same.

This Borders is super huge, and it probably has the best selection out of any of the borders stores. It was one of the first Borders stores to ever set foot in Pennsylvania (back around 1993), and it’s been going on pretty strong ever since. all of the staff inside it are super reliable, and they are quick to order anything that you can’t find. This Borders also has my favorite café when it comes to to any of it’s stores.
It’s also in a complex that has a pretty good restaurant and some other randomly useful stores.