Borders deserve credit for their support of comics, manga and books aimed at young people. They had a partnership with Tokyopop, one of very few publishers who developed OEL (original english language) mangas and worked with english speaking creators. Borders gave aspiring artists and writers the chance to see their work distributed on an international level that was really a dream come true. There was a lot of exploitation going on from the publisher side which was a whole different story, but Borders wasn't part of that. They simply fulfilled the dream of letting many creatives see their work on a bookstore shelf for the first time (myself included) and that was amazing. Really sad to see them go

THIS one saddened me. I always thought Borders had a better selection and way way better atmosphere than Barnes & Noble.

As someone who literally opened a Borders and then closed a store at the end - this one stings. I was there for nearly four year and I LOVED working there. The end was pretty traumatizing especially since the staff had poured so much love and passion into our store. I cried the day I came into work and saw the Going Out of Business signs plastered everywhere.

I was devastated when Borders closed. It was literally my favorite bookstore. Two story cafes, giant manga and comic sections, sufficient seating for customers. V

For years, I used to nestle in the chairs, drink coffee, & buy hundreds of dollars of books. I inevitably worked at Borders in I want to say 2006-2007 part time. It was one of my most favorite places to work, my boss was amazing & the perks were amazing. When my store closed, I bought a few magnets, a few signs, & I so wanted to buy one of the bookshelves but so was a poor struggling college student in a tiny apartment. Hardcore regret. But I still kept my badge, kept my magnets, & the lovely gratis of books my boss gave me. One of the best memories of my 20s.

When I was in medical school, I studied at Borders Books in Toledo, OH frequently. Initially, I liked Borders better than Barnes and Noble simply because the tabkes were bigger. As time went on, I found that the atmosphere in Borders was brighter and more cheery. My best friend and I always studied at a bar height table in the Cafe that sat 6 people. A few years after I graduated, they went out of business. I went to the store and inquired about the furniture. They said, "we haven't started selling it yet, but we are keeping a list of items that people are interested in. It will be first requested is first called. What item are you interested in? I will tell you that most of the Cafe furniture is already claimed. We are 3 pages in." Feeling kind of down, I showed them the table that I was interested in. Miraculously, no one had expressed interest in it. A week later, my husband and I hauled the table and the 6 chairs that came with it home for $400. We refinished them, and they sit in our game room in our basement. It is a reminder of the wonderful memories about the many hours I spent at Borders Books.

I’m from Singapore and the former existence of Borders here in the past helped me get through a tough period of my life. It was so comfortable, I would buy a book and sit at the cafe and enjoy it all. Hours upon hours could be spent there. I can still remember the smell.

I exist thanks to Borders, my parents meet there as co-workers in 1998. My Dad left by around the time I was born in 2000 but my Mom stuck with the company well into my childhood. I remember going there all the time as a kid, seeing her locker in the backroom, and listening to songs on those music stations. Borders is a huge hit of nostalgia for me, thanks for making this video. :)

I loved Borders - I turned 16 in 2001 and after getting my driver's license and then going to dinner with my family, it was the very first place I drove to by myself so I could buy a CD 😎

Random fun fact: Borders closing its doors had a major affect on the Anime industry in the west to such a degree that contributed to slump the years after 2008

As a 25 year employee of the company, looks like you got everything pretty much correct. We store managers saw it coming ever since the late '90s, leading to some contentious regional manager meetings. The bigwigs choice to ignore us, though, and instead offered an almost annual change of CEOs in the Waldenbooks division. One thing the video doesn't mention is that Borders expanded into Airport bookstores as well, starting--I think--with Reagan airport and then ultimately two at the Cincinnati airport in Kentucky (don't ask)! By the time I was managing one of those in 2008, upper management knew less than nothing about book retail and seemed almost to be purposely undermining our sales on a regular basis. Bookselling is NOT something just anyone can do. It's a CALLING. Ask any longtime bookseller!

My absolute favorite childhood memory was of me, my brothers, mom, and grandma spending an evening at Toys R Us, and Borders. So much of that memory no longer exists now and it’s evokes feelings of melancholy as much as it does joy.

This video is a great reminder to support local small business book stores, they still exist! Big business rises and falls while doing little for (and even hurting) its communities, so shop small whenever you can.

There was a Borders Bookstore in Building 5 of the World Trade Center. It was one of the most successful locations and was still there when the attacks happened.

Borders's closing was part of the reason why a mall near me got de-malled in the late 00s. Super interested to see how it got to that point!

In the 90s, when I was between places to live, i would always go to Borders and read and relax in one of their comfortable chairs. The store had a cozy atmosphere and there were lots of nooks and quiet places to sit and read. Another plus was this Borders was open till 11pm. I used to feel sad when I would leave near closing time since that would be the last roof over my head for the night. I stayed in my car of course, I was one of those invisible homeless people who worked during the day. Things got better for me but unfortunately not for Borders. I miss that place. This Borders was in San Mateo, California.

As someone who doesn't drink coffee, Borders had a unique way of making me wish I did when I walked in that other places just don't. Whatever coffee brands they had just smelled great and it always made for a pleasant experience when shopping.

I loved Borders!!! I practically grew up in their stores and the library. Once it closed, I tried to switch to Barnes and Noble, but it just never felt the same.

Man I miss Borders. It was such a great store. It had a small bookstore feel but on a larger scale if that made sense. It was fantastic.

When you say "bookstore giants" my mind conjures up the epic mall era competition between B. Dalton Booksellers and Waldenbooks.

I have fond memories of Borders. My grandpa used to take my sister and I on “Borders Runs” and we’d go listen to music and look at books and just hang out. He died in 2004 and those are still some of my best memories with him. ❤

My mom was an avid reader her whole life. We would always joke that she was a VIP/celebrity at our small town library. For years on Mother's Day we would go out to breakfast and afterwards make the trip to the closest Borders. I loved wandering around the place as a kid and reading all the car and video game magazines we didn't have at our local grocery store. One year we went and the store was closed. Now I know why. Thanks Jake for providing the thorough backstory and for taking me on a trip down memory lane. My mom passed away last year after a decade long battle with cancer. But, I will always have those memories of Mother's Day breakfast and Borders Books.

The Border’s in downtown Indianapolis was so cool, one of my favorite places to visit as a kid. It was a historic bank and was beautifully converted to a flagship bookstore. It’s now a bank again, so at least it’s still in use.

My local Borders faced the freeway that I now take every day to go to work. After it closed, it was soon taken over by a Marshall’s. Even that store has closed now. But that building is always going to be Borders to me and I think about it whenever I drive through that area. I miss Borders.

My family actually has a piece of Borders history in our house-when they closed the Singapore branch down, they decided to sell quite literally everything, including the signs that would hang from the ceiling telling you which genre of books you were looking at. My mom bought a few of these out of her love for Borders, and they're now part of our home decor!

I remember hearing weird stories about the last days of Borders from workers there. They knew in advance that the final closing sales discounts would get deeper the closer to the end they got but that by the end everything good would be bought. So they opened wall panels and hid stock of things they themselves wanted until the last day or so the stores were open, then took them out and bought them themselves at a huge discount. Imagine buying like what had been $1000 worth of books for 90 percent off or something.

As someone who grew up in Michigan and loved book stores growing up in the 80’s and 90’s and even today, I really miss Borders. I’ve lived in central Florida now for 26 years, and I can still point out where at least 3 Borders locations used to be in my area. Waldenbooks was also what I remember always being the main book stores in most of the malls around me growing up. I’ve really struggled to adapt at all the past 11-13 years, with so many stores and other physical places that I love going away. Either reducing to just about ⅓ of their former locations, or going away completely in most cases. I do still have Barnes & Noble in my metro, but while we used to have about 8 locations, we now have only about 3 or 4. And those locations are not what they used to be either. Very threadbare furniture, shelves, and woodwork, empty nooks where computers and customer service kiosks used to be, open areas that used to have more shelves of books or comfy armchairs, and virtually empty areas that used to have movies and music. It’s very depressing for me. As human beings, we need physical places and things. I don’t like everything just existing in cyberspace or “in the ether” so to speak. I find myself wandering around with nowhere to go anymore, or more often just being at home wanting to go out somewhere. But I do miss Borders a bunch. It was a nice alternative to Barnes & Noble sometimes, and just a pleasant place.

I loved Borders in UK, no pressure selling and you could essentially treat it as a library. The demise is a great example of a business not able to horizon scan the future customer need or shape to new technologies. If they had got an econmerce at right time and got in with the e-readers it could have positioned them better. Instead the cutting of the very quality service markers that customers liked, such as knowledgable staff , ultimately led it to liquidation. Great video.

My family was crushed when they closed. When I was a student at UCDavis in Calif, I was part of the original crew and helped open the first and only Borders Books in Davis. Even after I got pregnant and had high-risk conditions, they were awesome about it and moved me off my feet and into the office helping with accounting etc. That baby, my son, loved going to Borders in whatever town we visited. As far as books, genres, and collections they had the other big stores beat for sure. And of course, the Borders' cafe was always the best lounge area with weekly open mic sessions. Loved it!

My mother worked at Borders in Indiana in the mid-1999s. She would dress up and read stories to small children in the kids section.

I live in Michigan and I LOVED Borders. They had a great store in Southfield, a suburb of Detroit, and I loved to go there and browse because they had a LOT of obscure titles and variety, and their employees could find anything. Unfortunately, towards the end, they became a lot like Waldenbooks in that they only carried the most popular, biggest sellers. I remember that they originally had a whole wall of books on architecture, by the end they only had half a shelf.

This one hits me right in the gut, I would go to Borders almost everyday after school and me and my grandma would take the bus and go to the one near her house and she would buy me a book and cookie. Barnes and Noble was never like Borders for me, it felt so much less personable and cozy for some reason.

The CD listening area was hands down the reason I went there as a kid in the 90's/early 00's. To get to listen to a whole record before deciding to buy was CLUTCH

i googled pictures of borders and it took my back to five years old. thank you for covering this jake!!

I live in Ann Arbor and literally was walking past that CVS as I was watching this...what a world

I remember the reward system they had was trash. Like spend $500 to get a $5 off. And the lady that worked there was so mean she got mad every time I asked for help finding something. My local one was absolute trash but after the location closed it turned into a library which I actually loved.

God I miss the paperback smell of a Waldenbooks in a mall. I loved Borders back in the 2000s. The fact that you could listen to ANY CD blew me away. They’d just open the shrink wrap and let you listen, unlike Hot Topic which just had 5 CDs you could listen to that they selected. Plus the cafe. I loved to get a toasted bagel with cream cheese. I’d spend so much time there. I’d skip school to spend the day at Borders. I read at least one whole book in a comfy chair before buying it.

I grew up going to Border’s & my parents would get the Seattle’s Best coffee from the coffee shop while I read books in the amazing kids section with seating everywhere… then i’d go upstairs and buy a new season of a tv show i loved or movie on DVD every Friday. Border’s was the best. I also remember waiting for the midnight release of Harry Potter books!

Been waiting for this one. I worked at Borders from '06 to '08 as a teen while my mom happened to work at a neighboring Barnes + Noble. B+N was preparing to roll out the Nook and it was a huge deal for them internally while we were hearing nothing about a Borders equivalent. When I left for college and came back a year later to work the holiday shift, everything had changed and very few of the new hires knew enough about books to fill out those recommendation shelves. In just a few months, it felt like the bottom had totally fallen out.

I live in Manchester in the UK and Borders was found in every high street, mall and retail park. It was a shame when in 2009 every location fell into liquidation (our equivalent of chapter 7 bankruptcy) among so many other stores its crazy how many iconic brands we've lost. Love your content by the way Jake, watched abandoned since the very beginning and loved closed for storm!

I made a brief dive into ebooks but realized I missed paper too much. IMO nothing will ever beat the feel of a physical book in my hand and that sense of accomplishment you feel as the amount of paper in your right hand gets to be less and less the further you read. And don’t even get me started on the smell of old books.

Thanks for this! It irrationally made me cry. I miss the 90s/00s sometimes…

Borders became my go to bookstore. My favorite location in New Jersey had jazz on Friday nights. I came very close to getting misty while watching this video. So sad to see how online stores have destroyed brick and mortar businesses. But I guess that’s progress. Still, I cherish the happy memories of perusing (and buying) books, magazines music and getting a snack at Borders. It was a great place to relax and learn.

I was a bookseller for Brentano's, then Waldenbooks Superstore, which became Basset, which became Borders. I witnessed how retail can feed upon itself which is why I finally quit.

I looove that your sponsor is an indie book/author, as a wannabe self pub author myself that warms my heart

Great video as always, Jake! Thanks so much for having me as a sponsor for your video; while it does sting right in the nostalgia to be a part of an episode about the bankruptcy of my childhood book store, I'm so happy to see you do its story justice.

bankrupt has got to be one of my favorite series

you need to do a deep dive on whatever company makes those yellow and black store closing signs. they must be doing a bang up business the past few years

I have a friend who worked at Borders for a little more than a decade - the last decade of the Borders' existence. Not long after she started, corporate switched the employee 401(k) to invest solely in Borders stock IIRC. Shares were valued at around $20USD at the time. When Borders finally folded, shares were worth much less than $1USD per share. She now works at a Books-A-Million that is located in a former Borders store.

I knew the manager at my local Borders and he let me have a couple of bookcases that would have otherwise been scrapped after the store closed. Although this video covers the main reasons for the stores' closing, there were a lot of other smaller decisions that compounded things and further lead to the company's demise.

I ran into a former Borders exec while in Ann Arbor and he said the same thing you did. The 90s redesign with expansion of floor space for Music and Movies left them with not enough capital to change with the times. And because of their overhead, they couldn't price CDs and DVDs to match their competitors. For him, the final nail was the Amazon deal, which is something they should have been able to do on their own.

There are MANY Borders stores in the UAE, not just one. There’s also 3 in Qatar, a few in Oman, and one in Kuwait (which ironically doesn’t sell ANY books! Just toys and stationery). Also, from my personal experience with the UAE stores, some don’t even have a magazine section, they never sold physical media like DVDs and CDs (at least as far as I can remember), and at some point they did sell graphic novels and collected editions around the early 2010s or so, but then just stopped. Anyways, I’m glad you made this video (it’s been one I’ve been waiting for years).

My favorite Borders store is now a medical center. It was two floors, and I remember my Nana taking me there often. I also remember waiting for one of the later Harry Potter books in a PA Borders with my dad. It was a neat store full of good memories.

Borders was a fantastic place to be a kid in the late 90's. I still remember the deep blue/purple carpet with the sun motif in the children's section. I spent hours there, just wandering. I loved the CD listening stations in the music section, the smell of coffee, looking up books on the Title Sleuth kiosk, and buying Pokemon booster packs at the front counter. There was always a really gentle stream of jazz playing over the speakers. It was such a cozy place.

My family went to Borders as our main book store. It was so weird to watch the brand just disappear. I remember our local Borders was usually busy, never showed signs of struggling. Then it was gone. I always wondered what happened to Borders. Seeing how they decided to go from chapter 11 to chapter 7 bankruptcy makes a lot of sense now.

Loved going to the Border's in New Orleans. It was in a huge, gorgeous old Victorian building that had once been a funeral home....fitting I suppose. Spent hours and hours there, and still have every single book I bought from them. It's a grocery store now

Justin Hayward(The Moody Blues) made an appearance at the Border's location in Springfield, Pa. when he released his solo album "View From The Hill"(1996). Over 500 people showed up. Thanks Bright Sun Films. Cheers! 🥨

I'm from Sydney, Australia. I have so many fond memories of Borders. Our local store had a coffee shop inside, where my young daughter and I spent many an after school day. I even remember when she was a toddler, sitting in the pre-school books, trying to read (she's a high school history teacher now!). I agree with the high level of customer service, all of the staff at the store seemed very knowledgeable and always had a smile and were very friendly. I was pretty sad when it closed. It seemed to come out of nowhere. Thanks for the video!

We had the craziest labyrinth of a book store in my tiny home town in the 90’s. It went out of business because of Amazon. I have since moved countries and the country I am now in made it a law, when Amazon was in its book selling phase, that books couldn’t be sold cheaper online than in books stores. Now once again I live near a rambling book store that seems to go on forever full of books. It’s so great that this process of buying books was preserved somewhere, that generations of people get to know this feeling of an endless bookstore full of great books to discover. I only just wish I was better at reading the local language I feel like that guy in that Twilight Zone episode 😂😭

I used to spend a lot of hours at various Borders locations. Grab an Earl Gray tea, head to the music section, check out the stuff at the listening stations, then head to the books. It was rare that didn't walk out without buying something. Always preferred Borders to B&N, which had such a stuffy atmosphere in comparison, at least to me. I still can't believe that B&N has somehow survived whiles Borders is no more.

Having spent 16 years at Hastings up until the end of their bankruptcy, this one is definitely relatable.

For me, growing up, it was all about Walden Books and B. Dalton. My family would go to the mall, and I would make a beeline for one of the stores. I would grab a stack of books/magazines, plop myself down on a chair and wait for my parents to finish shopping.

I had no idea WaldenBooks or Borders were once owned by K-Mart. One thing I've noticed is that most of the bookstores that exist now have moved away from the "sit down and read" style - probably cause too many people would just sit and hang out and then not buy the book.

My mom and I loved Border. We visited at least 2-3 times a week and spent hours there. We loved that they had a café, sitting areas, frequently life events like music or authors and other. It was for us what Disney is for kids.

I worked for Borders in Bournemouth in the UK about 2007 or 8. I really loved that store. It made books feel special and had a really good atmosphere.

Thanks for bringing back good memories of Borders. Spent a lot of my younger years there. Was a great bookstore.

Back in the late 90's I used to go into Toys R Us and play Playstation demos and look around while my father would go into Borders next door and read a book. Such fun times.

I worked at my towns local Borders in 2002-2003. I was really excited about it. I walked in thinking Wow! This is going to be my job for the next 20 years. Within 10 days I realized that just wasn't going to be the case. I didn't see their collapse coming but the store and all the dealings with corporate was a total $#!t-show. I parted ways with borders after only a year. Very disappointing.

I LOVED Borders!!!

Still miss Borders. It was such a fun experience to shop there

I miss Borders. I was a big fan of going into their stores growing up in the late 90s through mid-2000s. It had a good vibe. Not too different from Barnes and Noble, but I enjoyed the big book store chains. It was fun to browse at many different topics, and it was a nice place to roam around. Not too loud, idle chit chats, decent chairs, etc.

Grew up going to the flagship store here in Ann Arbor. Borders always holds a special place in my heart. My mom and I bonded over reading and would go to borders EVERY weekend. With the way reading has become a “trendy” hobby, I feel like borders could come back in a small online way if they wanted to. But perhaps that is just wishful thinking. My reusable bag I use when I go to Barnes and noble says “I wish I was at borders”…

This is a classic story of a company that does well, grows rather than focuses on being just a good company, doesn't adapt to changes, and dies from the cost of being so big. Some of it's the stock market demanding growth no matter what, some is the wealth that the USA had in 1990-2010 when everything was outsourced, or just poor decisions by the executives to try and extract the most they could as they see the death nail coming.

Borders was my favorite bookstore for years. It was so cozy to just browse and even read books at. Good memories.

One of the reasons we were excited to move to our townhouse was because it was literally within walking distance…..it closed within 6 months of us moving here 😖😔 it has since been replaced by stupid things, Halloween store, flooring store etc. none of them are ever utilized, and go out of business only to be replaced by yet another “business” go figure.

Now this, this one hurt. I have so many memories of Borders Books and Music. The first books I ever bought with my own money were from Borders. I bough VHS tapes of Pokemon and Inuyasha from Borders. My first DVDs. Even my first Girly Magazine! It was my happy place. Even years after it left, I still refer to its former locations as "Where Border's used to be"

13:23 Barnes and Noble at Chandler Fashion Center. Iconic entrance/dropoff.

I really enjoyed finding a book and sitting for a coffee inside the store. Was always relaxing.

I worked at Borders from October 2000-April 2001 and enjoyed it. However, it started to decline when I was there and it was sad. I had been a regular customer when I started working there, and was a loyal customer after I quit on good terms to take care of my mom who had a stroke. I remember old time employees telling me how busy Christmas shopping was, but Christmas 2000 wasn't as bad as I thought. They eventually cut me from full to part time and by then my mom was sick and I was going back to college to get my masters so I didn't care. I still shopped there but by then it was so different.

I would visit Borders a few times a week and brought manga, dvds, photoshop magazines, and technology books from them each time. As part of their membership you get a nice discount on all their items. I remembered around 2011 when I visited one of their locations at Northridge, CA one of the clerk was pushing all the customers to pay $20 for a Borders membership with coupons. Myself and many others purchased it that day. The next day when we came back we were told by the same guy saying the membership and coupons are no longer valid because there is a Borders. That was an awful experience. I still cherish the many hundreds of other great times at the bookstores browsing their books and having a coffee through the years.

Loved going to Borders in the late 90s.

Border's was the better book store compared to Barnes & Noble. I remember being surprised that they were going bankrupt. You could find a bigger variety of books in Border's. I know the change in CD's and DVD's destroyed them. :(

I still have my Borders card. Great store! My friend and I used to hang out at the Borders in by Lenox Mall in Atlanta. I was sad to see it go out of business.

Border was one of my favorites places growing up. Before the internet in was a sanctuary. I truly miss the place.

My best friend met his now wife while working at Borders. (Yup, still married.) I remember there being one in the shopping center in Farmingdale, NY where I used to go for fun at Dave n' Busters. Stopped in one night. Place was 60% picked clean. I bought a couple of books at 50% off. Just a very sad memory now.

I remember the Borders in the new Bullring Shopping Centre in Birmingham UK when it opened in 2003. The times I popped in the place was pretty busy, and was cheaper than the more established UK chains of Waterstones and WH Smith. However - the UK chains have a much more loyal customer base, with Smiths also being a more Jack of all Trades selling stationary, greeting cards, music, videos, computer games, newspapers and magazines and Waterstones having the same vibe as Borders (with the Birmingham store being much larger). Like Tower Records, Borders seem to be another US brand who tried to find success in the UK, yet ultimately fail due to the fierce competition of our home grown brands.

Worked at s Borders in the late 1990s. People still thought I worked there because I kept going there years later and knew my way around. Our local store went out of business in 2011.

Besides the books, I always loved going to Borders and Barnes & Noble for their selection of CD's and DVD's they had. Sometimes I could find something that Walmart, Target, or the CD stores in malls didn't have, or a bit of a rarer, harder to find item.

Borders was expanded into UK, it was where I brought all the Harry Potter books when they released , the good old 12am releases and i have loads of other books that i bought on release day from there

Man I don’t know what I would do without this channel.

I remember borders would do group readings on the weekend. My parents would take my beother and i when we were around 5. I still remember exactly where that store was today. Appreciate you for making this one! 😢

I still miss Borders deeply. It was the place where I discovered manga, and I used to sit and read there for hours and drink coffee. It's definitely a big part of my junior high and high school days. I also have many fond memories of going there with my late grandma.

My boys and I LOVED Borders. I would take them once a month to buy books. It broke my heart when this store closed. I'm so sentimental that I kept the membership club. Why do the suits always ruin a great business?

I so enjoyed driving into Auckland, New Zealand to visit and purchase books from Borders and have missed them ever since they closed in New Zealand. 😢

To this very day my sister and I recollect about our times at Borders and how we were always just more comfortable in there than Barnes&Noble… lots of walk throughs fueled by coffee and cocoa trios 😭🖤😭🖤😭

I preferred Borders to Barnes & Noble growing up. Such a massive store to walk through, and there was usually something for everyone. Probably the largest movie and music selection, compared to the likes of Best Buy, I had ever seen. I often wish they were still around.

“What’s up guys, my name is Jake “ - let me grab my popcorn to a fucking banger of an episode

The primary place that I got game guides when I was a kid was Border's. No joke, when they closed, multiple bookstores took their place, and they last even less than Border's

Broke my heart when Borders closed. It was definitely my place to spend hours curled up in a comfy chair, reading, and sipping on a beverage from the café. I must have spent tens of thousands just on books and manga there in my lifetime before they went under

I was always a Barnes and Noble kid but I do remember Borders a bit. Companies come and go like waves coming into the shore.