Borders UK is under management and it seems about to go under but with the hope that it can be held bouyant and that jobs will not be lost. There have been a host of owners for Borders UK. Transferred from one investment company to another all hoping that it will be the golden goose. What the investment companies have forgotten is that books are different from any other product. It isn’t like selling a jar of jam. A book has a different genesis. It is created from an intellect, worked and re-worked and then finally produced for enjoyment, instruction, or illumination from one human brain to another. So selling books is not just cash and wrap, though I have to say that is about what you get in the Borders bookshops. There is no knowledge of the books, there is no love for reading. Most of the people employed are there for a job to enable them to live – and that is a good reason too – but they are not there because they love literature. I once asked a assistant at a Borders bookshop if they had a book on Ernest Rutherford, the famous New Zealand scientist. She looked a bit puzzled and said she wasn’t sure and then brightened and said: “What has he written lately?”
The only good thing about a large conglomerate bookshop going to the wall is that it allows space for the small independent booksellers. These small usually owner owned businesses do know their stock, and they do try to get to know their customers. They are in this world of selling books because that is what they love to do.
I am sorry that Borders may be on its way out – it employs a large staff and they will be amongst the many looking for jobs, but I know that I will always prefer the small independents. A real place for real book lovers.
