In rather sad news last week, Borders Bookstore announced that it was filing for bankruptcy. They plan to close 275 stores, including the only store close to our house. In some ways, I suppose hipsters might be rejoicing that a national brand, mainstream bookstore is shuttering itself, except that this is just continuing a trend of bookstores closing. For example, the main shopping mall in Fargo has been functionally illiterate since B Daltons closed down several years ago---it's depressing when a small bookstore can't survive among the rows of prefab clothing stores.
It turns out that the Borders closest to our house is one of those targeted for closing and they had a going-out-of-business sale this Saturday. All merchandise 20% off! So we decided to head over there and just check it out---partly out of guilt, since we actually never really shopped there (we've become faithful library patrons), but also partly for the spectacle.
It was like watching vultures circling an animal in its final death throes. I don't think that particular Borders had ever had so many people in there at the same time. I wonder if we were close to violating the fire code. People were everywhere, scavenging for books and calendars, CDs and DVDs, and the line to checkout stretched around the store and the wait was well over an hour. I had no idea so many people liked to read, and to be honest, I'm not sure if they will actually read everything they stood in line to get. The family behind us sent their kids scurrying to find any deal possible to stock up.
Was it the sale? Maybe, but Borders had frequent sales of 20% or even more in the past and they never had a crowd like this. In terms of savings, despite the 20% off sale, almost everything is still cheaper obtained online through Amazon. If people were looking to save money, they were doing it the wrong way.
Maybe people were treating it kind of like a game, almost like a push-your-luck contest of brinksmanship. Sure, if you come back next week the sale might be even bigger. But this is the final sale of the store---this is it, there's no turning back. Will your item still be there next week? Can you afford to do that? I think people can get tricked into thinking it's an all or nothing gamble, when in fact if you miss out on the sale next week, you haven't really lost anything.
On the other hand, physical stores do lend themselves to impulse purchases. It's hard, at least for me, to make an impulse buy on Amazon. You spend more time researching your different options, reading reviews, scouting for the best prices and fastest shipping, and by the end you better be pretty sure you want to spend money on it. With a physical store, you just go in to do some window shopping and the next thing you know, you're walking out with half a dozen shopping bags. You need it now and you can't wait for Amazon to ship it to you. Mobile networking is changing this dynamic, since you can use your smart phone to look up cheaper prices elsewhere, but it still doesn't solve the impulsive "gotta get it now" feeling.
But I think it was also an insight into human psychology---I think that part of the appeal was coming to watch the spectacle of the downfall of the company, and perhaps not just watch but also participate in. It's a once in a lifetime event. When will Borders ever close another store in your city again? You better not miss out!
We weren't innocent either. What did we do? We ended up buying a pile of books to stock up for this year.
Coincidentally or not, this was also the same week that the New York times started publishing a bestseller list for e-books. Certainly online stores are making things difficult for physical stores to compete in terms of sheer price, but I can only imagine what will happen when electronic books start taking off....
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