response 26 of 52:

Jun 9 15:24 UTC 2002

Oh, I see.  I misunderstood #17.

response 30 of 52:

Jun 9 19:05 UTC 2002

Hey, everyone's an editor.  It made perfect sense in my head. ;-)

response 32 of 52:

Jun 10 00:58 UTC 2002

It's been sad watching the steady decline of the Ann Arbor Borders.  I 
hadn't actually expected it to keep going, but I guess I should have.  
Boy, it was a *terrific* bookshop once.

Nicola's is small and a bit spotty.  They do mystery pretty well.  It's 
obvious that whoever buys/shelves the books knows, reads, and likes the 
genre.  But they plainly don't have a science fiction Person.  That 
sectionn is as random as your average mall bookstore.

Once upon a time, in the Ann Arbor Borders, every single section was 
managed by a well-educated person who loved it.  The books that 
mattered were there and prominently displayed.  Re-issues of dumb books 
with a new cover did not appear in the new book shelf.  Heck, there was 
a shelf for interesting new releases, so regular shoppers could find 
out what was new at a glance.  If you asked a staff member a question, 
you got an intelligent question.  I remember hearing the guy who did 
the computer section give someone a rundown of the strengths and 
weaknesses of the various HTML books (he was one of last of the old 
timers to leave, but he's gone now). It was obvious that he knew what 
HTML was about, and had looked through all the books in detail.  I 
remember someone asking a person at the cash register about some 
obscure political science book.  The cashier couldn't leave his 
register to show the customer the book, but he could describe exactly 
what shelf the book was on and how many copies were there.

It's weird that the franchise took over the country while dropping 
everything that made the store great.  Working the shelves at Border's 
used to be a prestigious and highly sought after job.  You pretty much 
needed to have a PhD or at least an ABD to get a job there.  They'd 
give applicants rigorous examinations to weed out all but the most 
overeducated.

Re fitz:  Um, are you under the impression that those things *aren't* 
happening at Borders and B&N?  The books on display on the ends of 
shelves and other highly visible places are almost all there because a 
publisher paid to have them there.  The publisher's aren't yet shelving 
the books, but evidentally they are now supposed to be deciding which 
books to shelve.   We don't yet have products shelved by publisher 
rather than topic, but it sounds like we are heading that way.

response 34 of 52:

Jun 10 03:16 UTC 2002

re: 32 -- I can attest to their very rigorous pre-employment exam. I applied
at the Novi store shortly after it opened (1994?) and found the test
overwhelming, to say the least. All of this in spite of the fact that I was
an AP English student, and was applying for a position in the Music
department. (Unfortunately, they didn't have a separate exam for that)

It's pretty obvious their standards have changed. Despite what some may think,
the Novi Border's was every bit as good as the Ann Arbor store (I spent
considerable time at both). In the last year, or so, I've found that when I've
had to ask for help, the employees tend to lead me to one of the Title Sleuth
kiosks, and perform the same boolean search I performed before asking them.

I would imagine that the lack of good help has a lot more to do with what
Border's considers to be a decent wage. When I applied there, I was too new
to the workforce to realize that $0.75 over minimum wage was hardly
impressive. Even now, they're only paying about $7.50 an hour in their Novi
store. This may be perfectly reasonable in Ann Arbor, where there are more
students than jobs, but I can't fathom why an educated person would take $7.50
in Novi or Farmington Hills when there are retail jobs paying $9 or more
within a few hundred feet.

response 36 of 52:

Jun 10 12:50 UTC 2002

(She has, I think, severed her relationship with Little Professor.  She has
at least given notice that the contract will not be renewed.  There was an
argument about the name of the store some few years back.)

response 38 of 52:

Jun 10 15:49 UTC 2002

I think it's difficult to find balance in large-scale retail, because most
people are driven by price, rather than service. 

I consider myself to be a reasonably competent person. At least, competent
enough to walk over to a kiosk and type in the name of the book, or author
I'm looking for. As long as the information in the kiosk is correct in regards
to where the item I want is located and whether it is in stock, I don't really
need assistance. As a consumer, it doesn't matter to me whether the person
behind the counter is able to tell me precisely where I can find a hardcover
edition of The Definitive Nietzche, if I don't need to ask. It's worth the
money I've saved, even when I'm unable to get the help I want in the 1-in-50
chance I have to ask someone.

I could see how it would be useful for a more specialized indie store to hire
more educated employees, and offset the more expensive wages by charging more
for books. Antique and rare books come to mind...where you'd want someone who
knew just what you were talking about, and who would be able to get it for
you. I'm sure most people wouldn't have second thoughts about paying a premium
for that level of service. 

response 40 of 52:

Jun 11 01:11 UTC 2002

It's a bit of a drive from AA, but "Thackeray's Books" in Toledo is 
excellent (or, at least, it was when I lived there a few years ago).  It 
never failed to pass what I consider the test of a good bookstore:  they 
always had exactly what I was looking for, even when I didn't know what 
that was.

Plus, there's a Krispy Kreme up the street.

response 42 of 52:

Jun 12 09:24 UTC 2002

Re #32>  Yep, I know Borders entirely through the Agora, which for years had
AA residents singing its praises.  I visted the B&N recently, but I had a task
to complete for my wife and I didn't look around.

My ideal of a book store is Curious Books or its sister, Argos.

response 44 of 52:

Jun 17 19:35 UTC 2002

I know that publishers would rather used books werent as available. 

response 46 of 52:

Jun 18 14:23 UTC 2002

Um. The article is from a site where authors have argued that their books
have been up on Amazon's "used" page BEFORE they were actually on sale new
at the stores (either Amazon/brick and mortar). This is true -- I saw that
local author Sarah Zettel's latest was being sold used on Amazon before it
was out at Borders, Nicola's, tc. While I don't think that selling used books
is wrong, I do think that it'd be nice to actually have the book released
before selling used copies.

response 48 of 52:

Jun 18 15:59 UTC 2002

No, what happens is that one of their "associated" sellers has a pre-release
used copy (usually from a reviewer) and thus they have available used copies.
(Amazon gets a cut from these associated sellers of used books, according to
the author complaints I've seen.) I have checked the "used" button on several
of these books, and yes, they are available right then and there (will send
in 1-2 business days). I know the difference between pre-ordering and
ordering a copy right now. (I don't ever pre-order anything, I like to be
sure there's a book in hand before I order something.)