Bad News for Borders Books

TAMPA - Bad news for Borders Books. Almost every one of their stores across Tampa Bay is closing. On Wednesday the company announced it's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and shutting down about a third of its locations nationwide. One of the stores located on Dale Mabry is among the 200 nationwide closing in just a few weeks.

"It's really sad to be honest with you, but we have online shopping so that's a good thing I guess," says Binqa Bozeman. That's part of the reason for the cuts."The bookstore market, the big box bookstores have really been in a tough fight with the preponderance of ecommerce and the willingness of shoppers to go online," explains Alexis Mueller, editor of Tampa Business Journal.

"It's a lot cheaper online and on a lot of other websites I've found," says John Nelson. Cindy Handon isn't surprised the stores are closing, because "everyone downloads music."

People download books, too, not to mention movies. Convenience and low overhead have contributed to the success of Redbox movie rentals. They seem to be popping up all across Tampa Bay, and of course some people have chosen to get rid of the DVD altogether, choosing to stream movies at home or on their cell phone. Mueller says, "This is the future. E-commerce is definitely going to affect bricks and mortar. People still like to have the physical shopping experience of getting out and touching and seeing things, but to a certain extent people who are in these worlds need to think about their game plan over the next ten years.”

Right now, Borders is pushing e-readers on its website; hoping online sales and fewer brick and mortar stores will turn things around. "Basically online is taking over everything; so, I guess in the future it will be nothing like Borders or stores or anything. We'll just order it online," Bozeman says. A lot of customers hope for a big going out of business sale. There's no official word how stores in Tampa, Clearwater and Sarasota will liquidate. The St. Pete Borders near Tyrone Square Mall will remain open. And if you have a Borders gift card you can use it there or on the company's website.