Published on September 25, 2011
Tomorrow (September 26, 2011) at 9pm, the curtain will finally go down for good on Borders in Singapore. Its second and smaller outlet at Parkway Parade is all set to close after a final discount sale over the weekend. With that will end a key chapter in the book retail landscape of Singapore. Borders’ demise had been on the cards for years but it is still a sad moment for book-lovers like myself.
I remember well my initial look at the iconic American bookstore in 2001 when I first visited Singapore – my uncle here took me to the flagship outlet at Wheelock Place on Orchard Road here and I was totally taken aback by the size of the store – it seemed to me like a treasure trove with hundreds and thousands of books and CDs and DVDs arranged in row after row. I could not believe my eyes. Never would I have imagine that exactly a decade later all this would be just a fond memory.
Borders was, for many years, an American institution. It was founded in 1971 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by two brothers (Tom and Louis Borders). It finally spread its wings in the late 1990s and interestingly their first international store was located in Singapore. The Wheelock Place outlet was a massive undertaking – spread over 32,000 square feet. Its opening shook up the book-retail industry in the city-state with smaller local operators like Popular and Times being forced to relook their sales strategies virtually overnight.
Borders subsequently opened dozens of stories overseas – in Japan, UK, Australia, New Zealand etc. At one point (in 2003) there were over 1,200 Borders stores worldwide. It seemed like a huge success story and it was – for a while. The Wheelock Place store had the classic Borders feel – one could sit and browse there freely for hours, the opening hours were long, there was the in-house café, it was a meeting-point for serious book-lovers and courting lovers alike and it was right in the most happening part of town. It was crowded with locals and tourists alike. Indeed, by 2006, this outlet was the most profitable of their branches worldwide. Borders soon opened its second store in Singapore, in 2007. All seemed fine.
But major changes were in store, and not all of it for the good. I started noticing that the CD section was being downsized with every passing month. I did not mind that too much because, after all, the primary attraction of Borders was the books they had, and the music on sale was always a bonus. But even the back-catalogue for most authors seemed skimpier than before. And there seemed no point asking the salespeople about many authors from the past – they seemed to have little clue about any of them. (My favourite test of a bookstore’s credentials is usually to ask them if they stocked PG Wodehouse’s classic books – if they failed to recognise even the name, I would immediately prophecy doom and gloom for them!).
Soon, another strange phenomenon was observable – Borders started sending out discount coupons by email every fortnight or so. In the beginning this seemed like an interesting sales ploy – but soon this seemed like a desperate measure to arrest the falling sales of books. Also, their focus on books seemed to be weakening fast – more and more gift items (soft toys, calendars) started cropping up in the stores and the arrangements of the books seemed to be getting messier every passing day.
It was understood by 2006 that Borders was losing big money. The e-book revolution was also taking its toll. The American side of things was fast losing steam with store after store closing down. But there was some hope for the Singapore outlets as it was understood that they were now being operated by an Australian firm, as a franchise. In February 2011 Borders announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; the last store in the US shuttered its doors on September 18 this year.
The Wheelock Place store in Singapore suddenly closed down last August – leasing problems were said to be the immediate cause. Sadly it was evident that it would not open again and from then it became a guessing game to see how long the smaller outlet at Parkway Parade would stay open. A couple of clearance sales were held including the one last weekend. It was awfully sad to see the once-mighty store being reduced to a few shelves and people milling around to pick up books for bargains.
Yet, all is not lost on the books front – Borders’ main rival here in its heyday, Kinokuniya, is still going strong and looks as solid as ever. Interesting home-grown indie bookshops like Books Actually, Page One and Littered With Books have their own devoted fanbase and are holding their own for now. But the sudden decline and fall of Borders is a cautionary tale. Many of the giant megastores in Singapore – Tower Records and HMV spring to mind – have either totally disappeared or have downsized dramatically in the space of just a couple of years after looking formidable at one stage. Wonder what the book-retail scene will be like in 2020 … will there be a major book store even functioning by then?
Tomorrow (September 26, 2011) at 9pm, the curtain will finally go down for good on Borders in Singapore. Its second and smaller outlet at Parkway Parade is all set to close after a final discount sale over the weekend. With that will end a key chapter in the book retail landscape of Singapore. Borders’ demise had been on the cards for years but it is still a sad moment for book-lovers like myself.
I remember well my initial look at the iconic American bookstore in 2001 when I first visited Singapore – my uncle here took me to the flagship outlet at Wheelock Place on Orchard Road here and I was totally taken aback by the size of the store – it seemed to me like a treasure trove with hundreds and thousands of books and CDs and DVDs arranged in row after row. I could not believe my eyes. Never would I have imagine that exactly a decade later all this would be just a fond memory.
Borders was, for many years, an American institution. It was founded in 1971 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by two brothers (Tom and Louis Borders). It finally spread its wings in the late 1990s and interestingly their first international store was located in Singapore. The Wheelock Place outlet was a massive undertaking – spread over 32,000 square feet. Its opening shook up the book-retail industry in the city-state with smaller local operators like Popular and Times being forced to relook their sales strategies virtually overnight.
Borders subsequently opened dozens of stories overseas – in Japan, UK, Australia, New Zealand etc. At one point (in 2003) there were over 1,200 Borders stores worldwide. It seemed like a huge success story and it was – for a while. The Wheelock Place store had the classic Borders feel – one could sit and browse there freely for hours, the opening hours were long, there was the in-house café, it was a meeting-point for serious book-lovers and courting lovers alike and it was right in the most happening part of town. It was crowded with locals and tourists alike. Indeed, by 2006, this outlet was the most profitable of their branches worldwide. Borders soon opened its second store in Singapore, in 2007. All seemed fine.
But major changes were in store, and not all of it for the good. I started noticing that the CD section was being downsized with every passing month. I did not mind that too much because, after all, the primary attraction of Borders was the books they had, and the music on sale was always a bonus. But even the back-catalogue for most authors seemed skimpier than before. And there seemed no point asking the salespeople about many authors from the past – they seemed to have little clue about any of them. (My favourite test of a bookstore’s credentials is usually to ask them if they stocked PG Wodehouse’s classic books – if they failed to recognise even the name, I would immediately prophecy doom and gloom for them!).
Soon, another strange phenomenon was observable – Borders started sending out discount coupons by email every fortnight or so. In the beginning this seemed like an interesting sales ploy – but soon this seemed like a desperate measure to arrest the falling sales of books. Also, their focus on books seemed to be weakening fast – more and more gift items (soft toys, calendars) started cropping up in the stores and the arrangements of the books seemed to be getting messier every passing day.
It was understood by 2006 that Borders was losing big money. The e-book revolution was also taking its toll. The American side of things was fast losing steam with store after store closing down. But there was some hope for the Singapore outlets as it was understood that they were now being operated by an Australian firm, as a franchise. In February 2011 Borders announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; the last store in the US shuttered its doors on September 18 this year.
The Wheelock Place store in Singapore suddenly closed down last August – leasing problems were said to be the immediate cause. Sadly it was evident that it would not open again and from then it became a guessing game to see how long the smaller outlet at Parkway Parade would stay open. A couple of clearance sales were held including the one last weekend. It was awfully sad to see the once-mighty store being reduced to a few shelves and people milling around to pick up books for bargains.
Yet, all is not lost on the books front – Borders’ main rival here in its heyday, Kinokuniya, is still going strong and looks as solid as ever. Interesting home-grown indie bookshops like Books Actually, Page One and Littered With Books have their own devoted fanbase and are holding their own for now. But the sudden decline and fall of Borders is a cautionary tale. Many of the giant megastores in Singapore – Tower Records and HMV spring to mind – have either totally disappeared or have downsized dramatically in the space of just a couple of years after looking formidable at one stage. Wonder what the book-retail scene will be like in 2020 … will there be a major book store even functioning by then?