response 1 of 64:

Sep 4 14:15 UTC 1998

I'm not holding my breath. I'm sure the store has been run well enough.
Are they reorganizing, or just calling it quits? A store with a world-wide
reputation doesn't just fold up in the middle of the week.

response 3 of 64:

Sep 4 19:27 UTC 1998

The owner (I talked to him when I pelted down there at lunch) has been
going through a bankruptcy and -- while I don't know the details -- has
apparently been screwed by some less than scrupulous 
creditors/law-types. As well, he explained that they'd taken a big hit
after Borders moved in across the street, a good 25% of business, and 
that if he'd realized it before, he might have stemmed the red ink, but 
he didn't, and if he'd had more cash or something, again, the tide might 
have turned, but it's too late now. I

They will be closing next Friday. There's a letter up at each cash 
register explaining this. I am really bummed. 

He says that it would be best if people came in and bought their 
stuff now, because it will just all be liquidated by the bank. I 
have no idea how the bank will dispose of it, but it doesn't seem
like it's a good day for Ann Arbor. 

response 5 of 64:

Sep 4 22:09 UTC 1998

I'm sad, but not surprised.  I'd been picking up vibrations of 
retail distress ever since Borders opened just across the street.
The diversity of the stock had been slipping badly in the past couple
of years.  In my particular obsession, British Isles folk-ish music, 
Schoolkids just wasn't bringing in the import discs that I wanted.
Ten years ago they were pretty reliable about it; even three years 
ago they got a lot in.
 
As a consequence, I know that my own spending at Schoolkids slipped 
drastically in the last two years.

response 7 of 64:

Sep 4 22:49 UTC 1998

I have to admit..., an Ann Arbor landmark leaving us.  But I feel that Borders
has had a much better selection lately than school kids.  Although I usually
spent most of my time in the Annex.  The kind of music I listen to is
sometimes hard to find, but Borders has been really stocking up on a wide
variety of hard to finds.  
I wonder you is going to take over the spot>?

response 9 of 64:

Sep 5 14:47 UTC 1998

..

response 11 of 64:

Sep 5 17:14 UTC 1998

  ((Music #149 now linked as Summer Agora #151, thanks Katie!))

response 13 of 64:

Sep 5 21:56 UTC 1998

People always decry the passing of these local bookstores/music stores, 
but in a good many of these cases, the problem is that the local person 
is just not a good businessperson. krj noted above that lately they 
had stopped stocking the CDs he would buy. If a merchant doesn't have 
the stock, how can people buy it?

Another example of a "local" that just closed up is Main Street News. It 
seemed to me they were in the same boat as Schoolkids.  Several times 
recently I saw a magazine in Borders that I wanted.  Feeling like I'd 
rather support the local merchant, I would trek over to Main Street News 
only to find that they didn't have it on the shelves. What I wanted was 
not really exotic, either. One time it was Cook's Illustrated, another 
time it was San Francisco Magazine.

Another time, I sent them an email before going in to ask them about a 
particular title.  I never received a reply.  My feeling is that the 
proprietor just wasn't on top of things.