Forum - View topicWaldenbooks to close half its stores--a blow to U.S. manga?
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Mawdryn
 Posts: 240 Location: St. Louis, MO. U.S.A. |
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Pretty much all of the business websites yesterday (March 26) have been reporting that Borders Group took a major financial loss last year and has come up with a new plan to move forward, one that includes severing its ties with Amazon.com to create their own online store, cutting its inventory, and closing some 250 of its nearly 600 Waldenbook stores.
I know for some manga readers this is disastrous news because their local Waldenbooks are their primary source for buying manga in the U.S, and may be the only book store in their area that really sells it. I'm wondering if the closing of so many Waldenbook stores will have an impact on the U.S. manga market? |
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Asako
 Posts: 751 Location: Hawaii |
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They've already closed down all their Waldenbooks here in Hawaii and turned some of them into Borders Express.
They've also changed their Borders Rewards according to an e-mail I received not very long ago. They're doing away with the Holiday Rewards and the Personal Shopping Day and turning it into a "Spend $150 and get $5 you can use for whatever purchase you choose" I would figure that the 10% off for whatever you purchase made them lose money. It only takes $50 to earn a personal shopping day and I'm pretty sure lots of people caught on. Barnes & Noble chases Borders out of a lot of places. For instance in one of our major malls here, Borders Express closed before B&N even opened up. *sigh* I like Borders... they seem more informal than Barnes... cozy like. |
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geishageek
 Posts: 571 Location: Pleasant Valley, NY |
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We had a WaldenBooks, Barns and Noble, and a Borders. They finally closed the Waldenbook because the Borders is only right down the street. It wasn't making much money anyway. They always had sales going on to get things out of the store that were not selling. It was sad. I got some really awesome deals out of it though.
I personally do not like Borders or Barnes and Noble because they are just so large and unfriendly. WaldenBooks was always a small quiet little corner of a store where I could buy my manga in silence (until the yaoi fangirls showed up and ruined everything with their squeeing). Ugh. I mostly buy my manga online from Amazon or Rightstuf. It is a lot cheaper too. But I will miss my Waldenbooks. Sigh... |
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Kelly
Posts: 868 Location: New York City |
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I wouldn't panic yet until the locations are confirmed. The closures might be stores that are very near other bookstores, which could be why they're not doing well - and those other stores might very well have good manga sections.
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Jedi General
 Posts: 2485 Location: Tucson, AZ |
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I only have Borders stores around me, so I think I'll be OK. I don't really like Borders all that much anyway. I'd rather go to a Barnes & Noble than a Borders any day. They're usually much more friendly, and plus I can actually get a discount every time I purchase something with my membership card, unlike Borders. Plus, the Borders stores n my area are quite cramped. The Barnes & Noble stores are much more wide open.
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Kouji
 Posts: 978 |
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I don't think the closing down of so many Waldenbooks will affect manga that drastically because while it sucks for the people who only have a Waldenbooks in their area, there are still plenty of other stores where you can buy manga from, like Borders, Barnes & Noble, Booksamillion, and online stores like Rightstuf. Besides, it's not like they're closing all Waldenbooks. As long as our Booksamillion stays in business, I'm not that worried. I rarely ever go to Waldenbooks anymore because their manga section is always so tiny. They always only have like one copy of every volume up on the shelves and they never re-stock anything, so when someone buys that one copy, you never see it there again for months. I got tired of waiting for half a year for Waldenbooks to have more copies of vol 3 of FMA, so I just started going to Booksamillion instead. They have a much larger manga section with more copies available and they sell more manga artbooks, too. The only two things I liked about Waldenbooks more than Booksamillion were their buy 4 get one free or whatever deals on paperback books that included manga and that the store was too small for people to hang around the store reading manga without ever actually buying anything after they read it.
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Jedi General
Posts: 2485 Location: Tucson, AZ |
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Just from the name alone, Booksamillion seemed like a great bookstore, and what you described about their manga selection made it seem even better. But I looked it up and there aren't any stores west of Texas. Darn. I'll just have to stick with Borders and Barnes & Noble then. I don't like to buy books online normally. |
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Torhu_San
 Posts: 133 Location: Upstate Ny |
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Yeah, they closed all the Waldenbooks near me here in Upstate Ny. I mean there are still Borders and Barnes and Nobles around. I like Borders. At least where I live, their manga selection is like 10 times better than Barnes and Noble. It seems like they like to hire snobs around here for both book stores. It sucks to hear that they are changing the rewards plan. I liked it...and yes, I made sure I spent 50 dollars a month to get that shopping day....although I might not have otherwise, so I don't see how they could really lose money on that. Looks like I will be going back to dreamlandcomics.com to get my manga.
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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Really? I hadn't noticed that. I only noticed that the coupons haven't been as good recently. I haven't seen a coupon for more than 20% off in a while. At first, there were a number of 25-30% off coupons, but more recently its only been 20% or its been for specific genres that aren't manga. I don't buy much at actual bookstores, since TRSI has Tokyopop and Dark Horse titles 25% off all the time and the last Viz sale (40% off with GA discount) took care of pretty much all my Viz purchases from January through September. But I still need to get my manga/novels from Del Rey, Seven Seas, DrMaster, and GoComi and Borders/Waldenbooks is good for those, when I have coupons. The personal shopping day and the rewards credit made it even better, and I'm really sad to see those go. That rewards credit got me the first volume of Bleach (anime) for free along with a few other books. I really hope my local Waldenbooks doesn't close, because I hate my local Border's security stickers and refuse to buy them because the stickers don't come off withou tearing the book. Those kind usually are okay if they are on the pages, but they don't come off the cover and about six months ago, they started tearing the pages as well. If it was the flat kind B&N used and was on the cover or and ad in the back, it wouldn't be a big deal, but Borders uses the thick ones which I hate. Waldenbooks doesn't have those problems, so I go to them instead. Edit: Okay, apparently Borders just changed that policy and sent the e-mail out last night. Current Christmas rewards will still be honored (as will current personal shopping days) and can still be earned up through April 12th. |
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Not a Jellyfish
 Posts: 539 Location: Boston, MA |
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Locally, our Waldenbooks has the best manga selection in the greater metropolitan area. Trust me, I know, I've gone to like every single book and comic shop in this area (Like an 80 mile radius). Walden has the best. Although, I hated when they dropped the old discount card, and I never cared for the new one. Plus, since I got a discount at B&N anyway for being an EB Games employee, I just went over to B&N. But Walden still has the best selection.
Though it seems people forget that every major bookstore can special order books for you, free of charge. So, don't complain about not having stuff in stock, just order it in. There's usually no obligation to buy it anyway. So, while it is disappointing, since it seems most people always went to Walden for manga, there are still other options. As long as people continue to seek out manga, the market will still be there. Plus, if they close one near you, just go to another store and create the demand for it, and they will listen. |
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slickwataris
 Posts: 1334 Location: Carol Stream, Illinois |
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They closed the Waldens in the mall that I go see movies at. I would always stop by after a movie and do a little manga shopping. When I went to see Bridge to Terabithia a couple weeks ago the Waldens there just vanished out of nowhere. No warnings or anything. There is a Borders literally across the street but the Waldens definitely had the better selection. They always had new volumes earlier than any other store in the area and was the only one to ever shelve MBQ. They haven't closed the Waldens in the mall by my house but then again I haven't checked in there for a few weeks. I'm a little worried. I bought most of my books there since I started buying Goosebumps in the 2nd grade.
I actually rarely used the shopping days. I would earn it about every other month but it wasn't that great a deal when they sent me 20-30% off coupons in my mail....I would only use them when I did the buy 3 get 4th free deals.
complete opposite in my area. None of the B&N stores here even carry music or movies and the one I went to today doesn't even have a cafe like all the others. Everything in the one I went to today was smooshed together it was like a labyrinth finding your way out.
once again complete opposite in my area. The Waldens in my mall has roughly 6x more manga than the BooksAMillion. Not only that but BAM is also a half hour out of my way... |
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Abarenbo Shogun
 Posts: 1573 |
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And 5% of the purchase of every $100 netted you Holiday Credit. $100 * $5 = 5% But the new system is even worse. $150 * $5 = 3.33% So in a sense, your gonna get screwed in the purchases reward in exchange for using your credit quicker. What they should've done was increase the frequency of 10% rewards. Under the old program, they gave it to you once a month for the initial $50 you spent. Anything after that didn't count. So, say you spent $175 on manga in a month. That should entitle you to at least 2 Personal Shopping Days. |
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Asako
Posts: 751 Location: Hawaii |
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I ranted about this in my myspace as soon as I got the e-mail and my friends all agreed. It annoyed me that Borders tried to make it sound like it was BETTER, but it's clear that a 10% off with no limit on quantity is the cheaper way to go. |
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mistress_reebi
Posts: 735 Location: Canada |
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Local comic book stores sell manga, so it's not like manga is going to fade away. I
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Jedi General
Posts: 2485 Location: Tucson, AZ |
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Really? That's interesting. I guess it varies in different from area to area then. |
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