Adventures of a Bookonaut: Breaking News - Borders and Angus & Robertson enter administration

Feb 17, 2011

Breaking News - Borders and Angus & Robertson enter administration

Colour me a bit surprised on this one. I was aware that Borders in the US had filed a chapter 11 for bankruptcy but I thought that REDGroup Retail who own Borders Australia, Angus & Robertson and New Zealand's Whitcoulls were a different company or at least financially separate.

Read more from the ABC:

A day after US book store Borders collapsed, local chains Borders, Angus & Robertson and the Whitcoulls group of newsagencies in New Zealand have been placed into administration by owners REDgroup Retail.

It is understood the board had serious concerns about the solvency of the company and was forced to call in administrators Ferrier Hodgson this afternoon.

The ABC also understands that a combination of the high Australian dollar, cheap books online, high wages and rents, as well as the retail downturn led to the company's decline.

To Aunty for more

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Rachel 89p · 735 weeks ago

I always thought they were separate companies too... oh well. Guess you can't charge $40 for a paperback and expect to stay in business.

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4 replies · active 735 weeks ago

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SB Wright 110p · 735 weeks ago

Headlines on ABC this morning is that the internet is killing Australian Bookstores. Which I am sure has some part to play but I would also add non existent customer service, supermarket chains to that list as well.

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Rachel 89p · 735 weeks ago

Yeah true... I have gotten better customer service off BD than any bookstore... once a book took over a month to arrive, and I sent them an email asking if there was a tracking number or something, and they just sent me a new book... then I had two.. So I contacted them and told them and offered to send one back, and they told me to keep it. They were really friendly too. That really cemented them as "the place to shop" for me...

On the other hand, walk into a bookstore and you are ignored, the young sales girls try to run away if they see you approaching them.. says a lot.
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SB Wright 110p · 735 weeks ago

My nearest bookstore is a Collins about an hour away. I don't get their often enough to develop a relationship, but I have also never been approached by a customer service rep when in the store (and its not that big a store). Contrast this with the secondhand bookstore just around the corner. I have wondered in and spent 20-30 dollars each time because

a) the staff member asks about me
b) remembers details about me
c) offers to track down books for me

The deteriorating book market hasn't effect her in the slightest.

My experience with BD has been similar, brilliant service. Angus and Robertson Online by comparison, never bothered to answer an online query I had about purchasing my first ebook from them. Borders were marginally better and i got the distinct impression from the staffer who was dealing with me that upper management really didn't give a damn about customer service of responding to customer suggestions.

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Rachel 89p · 735 weeks ago

and that is exactly how customer service should be! No wonder you spend so much in that store, that woman sure has it right! :)

Angus and Robertson's ebooks are also quite expensive....

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Marg · 735 weeks ago

It's my understanding that they are separate entities, but maybe there was some decision to try and obscure that by announcing this so closely to the US announcement.

On the news there was another comment again about the fact that we don't pay GST on overseas book purchases. Made me want to yell at the TV and say we aren't talking about $2 in price differences but a lot more, so it isn't the GST!
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1 reply · active 735 weeks ago

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SB Wright 110p · 735 weeks ago

We might have been shouting at the same time. :)

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ChristopherTK 81p · 735 weeks ago

Extremely short-sighted and poor company decisions including a tragically executed business relationship with Amazon, terrible pricing, a non-rewarding rewards program, and too many customers that treat Borders, our U.S. version anyway, like a library is what led to their bankruptcy.

I hear much more vocal support for Borders and yet it is Barnes & Noble that continue to ring up brick-and-mortar sales here.

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5 replies · active 735 weeks ago

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SB Wright 110p · 735 weeks ago

Really there's vocal support for Borders? :)

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ChristopherTK 81p · 735 weeks ago

Absolutely. In my experience, comments regarding Borders have always been far more positive than Barnes & Noble, where store atmosphere is concerned. On the fly, I would say 80% of people like the Borders stores better than Barnes, based on past, pre-bankruptcy discussions. Of course, customers are not customers if they are not spending money and that seems to be Borders problem.

Many of those seeking atmosphere at Borders are not spending money. Many more use the Borders coupons for one heavily discounted item and pass on other purchases. Borders losses a profitable sale and more by encouraging shoppers to browse their store, and then making further purchases online--at Amazon. Shopping Borders online is not customer/wallet friendly.

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SB Wright 110p · 735 weeks ago

There's not much support for them in Aus today. They are requiring customers to spend twice the value of gift vouchers to redeem them ie $50 voucher need to spend 50 as well.

I haven't shopped at borders since their continued support for Gloria Jeans and through them mercy ministries.

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ChristopherTK 81p · 735 weeks ago

No wonder it seems I speaking another language.

Neither problem exists here in the U.S.. Our coffee is Seattle's Best and fortunately, we don't have the ridiculous gift card requirement.

...by the way, my boys are slowly working their way through Tales from Outer Suburbia but they are more captivated by our reading of Eagle of the Ninth.

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