Borders Declares Bankruptcy
It's official. Borders, the third largest bookseller in the U.S has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. There has been weeks of speculation over the state of the company, and today it all came to an end. However, Borders is not gone for good. They will be closing about 200 of their stores and an additional 6000 employees will lose their jobs.
So how did this happen to Borders? Well, the main reason is likely because of Borders non ability to transition to the e- book revolution. Technically, Borders does have an e- reader known as the Kobo, but it hasn't given Borders much success and it doesn't nearly stack up to other e- reader like the Barnes and Noble Nook or the Kindle. In this electronic age where now people are using devices to hold thousands of books, they don’t want to have to go to the bookstore when they can just buy a book at home, usually for less money, too. Now sure, there are some people out there who just like having a physical copy in their hands or maybe like collecting books. Eventually though, e- book sales are just going to keep on skyrocketing like they already are and more and more bookstores are going to have to adapt to the electronic world, which means that people will as well.
Do you think Borders will ever make a comeback and once again be a succeeding company? Personally, I think this is very well possible, it's just going to take a lot of time to re- strategize and try to market the Kobo better. Maybe Borders should just ditch the Kobo all together and start with a fresh, new e- reader.
What do you think? Can Borders make a comeback? Leave a comment saying what you think!