Goodbye to a Store Like no Other
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It’s tough for any sports
writer to get a book published – but it was a lot easier with a friendly
bookstore on your side, from start to finish.
It wasn’t that long ago that
if you wanted to buy a book, there was no Kindle or Nook or amazon.com
– or the internet. There weren’t even big-chain book stores.
You had to go to one of those narrow stores in mini-malls that sold
paperback best-sellers and thrillers and romance novels.
But then the Borders brothers
changed all that. They decided to go big, opening a two-story
shop on State Street in Ann Arbor. They stocked almost everything,
they gave customers room to relax and read, and they hired people who
weren’t just clerks, but readers.
When I applied for a job there
in college, they didn’t just hand me an application, but a test on
literature -- which I failed.
But if they wouldn’t let
me sell books there, they still let me buy them, so perhaps it was just
as well. I bought everything from Mark Twain’s “Innocents
Abroad” to Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five.” Typically,
I’d walk in for one book, and walk out with four – an hour later.
I spent over a thousand dollars a year there, then a few hundred more
on book shelves.
When Borders became a national
chain, we Ann Arborites took an unearned pride in seeing the rest of
the country love it as much as we did.
But Borders conceded the internet
to amazon.com, then seemed to embark on a strategy designed not to create
a stirring comeback, but a slow retreat. Finally, Borders announced
it was going out of business this summer.
This week I visited my local
Border’s store, Number #1, right downtown, one last time. I
toured my favorite sections, literature and history, but also stopped
by the children’s department, where I bought Dr. Seuss books for my
nieces years ago, one of whom is now in college. I visited the
travel stacks, where I planned trips to Turkey and Thailand, Spain and
South America. I also picked up books to teach me just enough
of those languages to get me in trouble, but not quite enough to get
me out of it. I must have bought the cheaper ones.
But I didn’t need to get
on a plane to go places. Pick up a good book – completely portable,
no plugs or batteries needed – and you can go anywhere you want, even
back in time, in just minutes.
In 1989, at the original store’s
reference section, I picked up a copy of Writer’s Market, because
my teacher told me it was the bible for free-lance writers. I saved
it. In the back pages I listed all the publications where
I sent my articles, and which ones rejected them. That first year,
all but one did. Thank you, Motor Trend. I bought ten copies
of that issue at Border’s, too.
But I kept buying Writer’s
Market and sending out my stories. After a decade, I published
my first book. I wrote my second book in Borders’ café, where
I also listened to readings by my friends, and the famous.
A few years ago the Borders
in downtown Ann Arbor sold more copies of my last book, on Bo Schembechler,
than any store in the country. I spent hours signing them, and
the staff became colleagues, even friends.
During my last visit, one of
them said, “Hey John, can I help you find anything?”
“No, thanks,” I said, then
waved my hand over the entire store. “I just came to say goodbye
to an old friend.”
I shook his hand. “Thanks
for everything.”
He nodded, but kept a stiff upper lip, and walked off to help someone else.
i have not been able to bring myself to visit my dying old friend on liberty st. i'm a book guy, i love feel of the paper, the smell of it. bookstores have a unique sensory feel that even the coffee can't mask. i'll stop by nicola's to say bye to borders, i'm afraid...
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I've visited my local Borders at least twice a week and it breaks my heart to see it go. The death of an era to the internet world. But you can't have coffee or peruse the isles or meet friends for coffee at Amazon. So sad.
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There's one book store now in my city, to serve one million people, I don't imagine it will last that much longer...
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I had never set foot in Ann Arbor before going to college, and had no clue about the history of Borders #1. Thanks for sharing your story and passion!
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I am very sad for all the employees of Borders, but their closing just re-enforces the need for the local independent bookstore. I own a small independent bookstore (Barnhills books*Wine*Art*Gifts in Winston-Salem, NC) & I welcome all former Borders patrons to give us a try.
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Borders Bookstore in Ann Arbor became a quiet refuge for me when I was as young as 9 years old. The staff as John mentioned was friendly, always helpful and respectful of their customers. I usually found myself seated on a small stack of books reading a Marvel Collection of superheroes. The staff never reproached me with queries as to where my parents were, or whether my intent was to purchase the reading material that captured my attention. They recognized me, and later as an undergraduate at Michigan, I recognized some of them. It was a great idea for a store, to be so accomplished in understanding what a reader was looking for, or what may be a nice direction in literature based on their past conversations with someone. It was here that I learned to listen to a bookseller, to hear their often sage advice on how to approach a research or writing assignment. This was a one in a million kind of shop, not one that I ever found in the various incarnations of itself in other parts of the country. As a friend once told me, the book is a tangible artifact. Something to be held by one in a soft embrace, where time passes only as the pages turn. I too will miss this place, this bookstore, this quiet repose for a young boy whose imagination raced with whatever was printed on the pages in front of him.
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Nice write, John! I, too, failed the lit test. (And went on to writing career, which, I suppose, is some sort of separate commentary.) Like you, I would go in for one book and walk out with five. The closure of Schoolkids Records and Borders, while sad, was a big help to my budget. And I never walked by the trade paperbacks and/or lit section with out thinking that sitting there were books I should probably be reading, but would likely never would.
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The end of an era. I am a Anglophile and try to visit London as often as possible. Charing Cross Road used to have many dank dark bookstores where one could get lost searching and reading. I did much of my family genealogy search there. I bet the Borders founders got their inspiration from those type of operations. In 2009 there were only three stores left so the demise is worldwide. I still frequent the local Barnes and Noble store (Fort Lauderdale) and they will probably close also. I graduated from M (1958) long before Borders opened but always spent some time and money there on my returns for a couple of football games every year (since 1962). They will probably be closed when I get to AA on September 9th. This is as sad as the P Bell and Old German restaurants closing decades ago. Thanks for helping relive some great Ann Arbor traditions.
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I'll miss that store, it was a sure bet on a Saturday morning. I would leave my skates at Pat's for sharpening and go visit Border's for an hour or so and pick up my skates after. I bought a lot of CD's there as well. Well, there is still Encore Records and Van Boven's.
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My wife and I visit Ann Arbor on football Saturdays and always park on the north side of town so we can walk all the way down State street to get to the stadium. We always make that a leisurely walk so we can stop at Borders and other stores along the way to enjoy the ambiance of the crowds on football Saturdays. John, you are right. We will be loosing an old friend. Hopefully, they will still be open on the first football Saturday of the fall so that we can say goodbye as well.
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I'll always fondly remember the State Street store. My Dad used to take me there almost every weekend and it was always an event for me.
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Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I lived in Ann Arbor from '79-'88 and loved hanging out at Borders. Borders was a must stop when showing out of town guest around campus and the city and we would usually stop there for some reading material and to browse when we returned to Ann Arbor after leaving. Sad to see them go. Looking forward to your new book in October! It is going to sizzle with or without Borders but something tells me that a signing at the old refuge called Borders would have been your preferred kickoff!
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