Dammit...
Got an email update today from Borders bookstore saying that they are leaving New Zealand.
Goodbye and thanks. Borders NZ bids you a fond farewell. But fear not! Whitcoulls will continue to fly the flag for great book deals.A sad day..
Borders always had such a huge selection of stuff, and a lot of imports from America that we just didn't see in other stores. I loved going in and browsing in there. Yes, we still have Whitcoulls, but their selection has always seemed quite small to me. I guess that with the advent of ordering via the internet that brick-and-mortar stores can't afford to physically bring in a huge selection of the latest books, or keep a lot of older stock.
I have my Kindle reader, of course, but with some kinds of books you need the physical version.
So bye bye Borders. Sad to see you leave...
The Borders in York, England, closed recently too.
ReplyDeleteI guess they are in global trouble.
That is sad. NZ's book selections are woeful, and from what I saw the few times I went into Borders was a much better selection.
ReplyDeleteYes, the selection is woeful in NZ stores. For instance, I was looking for a book on Abraham Lincoln one time; Borders had a huge variety on him, from Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team Of Rivals to Ronald C White Jr's The Eloquent President (which analyses his speeches), and many in-between.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to look for something like that in Whitcoulls, I'd be completely out of luck. You'd be lucky to find even one book.
I know that Amazon has a "look inside" feature that lets you see some of the pages inside a book, but it's not the same as physically picking up a book and looking through it.
A real, real shame...
For me the test has always been Catholic books. Your typically bookshop here in NZ will only have anti-Catholic books, or anti-Christian books. You cannot get a Catholic book here (except for the Pope's recent books on Jesus).
ReplyDeleteI think most of the books I've bought over the last few years have been from Amazon. Hardly ever buy local any more.
I know what you mean about wanting to flick through the books, but the reviews can give you a good idea of how good the book is. I always read them.