The long good-bye

Say farewell to Borders: “Borders to shut down for good after deal collapses.”

In a twist or knell or something or other, I received what will theoretically be my last-ever package from Borders yesterday, too.

Any Borders reminiscences to share? I just remembered that Borders was the first legit bookstore in my vicinity to stock manga; prior to that I’d scoured E. B. Games and, occasionally, Toys ‘R’ Us, to pick up single, frequently battered issues of Pokémon, Digimon, and some horrifically translated Gundam Wing. I think my first high-intensity exposure to manga (lots of it! all in one place! in a bookstore!) was a long, dazed afternoon in a Borders spent flipping through, among others, a CLAMP series that seemed really cryptic and creepy at the time, probably partly because the first volume was missing. I’m not going to say what series it was, just to preserve the imagined mystique.

Edit: This article does a great job of explaining what Borders’ closing will mean for consumers, publishers, and authors.

3 thoughts on “The long good-bye”

  1. I mostly loved Borders because of the magazines. They were my only source for things like Curve, Girlfriends, Bitch, Bust, NewWitch, SageWoman, Realms of Fantasy, Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine, etc. I don’t have any access to those magazines any more (ironically, now that I’m finally settled long enough to subscribe to one of them, I can’t afford to!); I really, really miss it.

    Stupid economy.

  2. I don’t have any access to those magazines any more
    Bummer – are they not readily available in your area of the UK?

    Score!
    I can never decide what’s more satisfying, finding a really obscure something-you-wanted for absurdly cheap at a thrift store or similar, or in the bargain bin of a big chain bookseller.

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