Bye-bye, Borders: Neoliberalism in Publishing III

One of the more visible signs of neoliberalism in publishing has been the decline of independent booksellers—and the corresponding rise of the book superstore. While corporate publisher mergers, market-based editorial decision making, and multimillion dollar author advances are less visible to the general public, huge book megastores—often near boarded up independent bookstores—are a part of the American landscape. Book superstores are as common now to American strip malls as Wal-Mart and Target, and in some cities are even found among luxury stores such as Louis Vuitton and Tiffany's.

Fifty years ago, three quarters of trade books were purchased at independent bookstores. Thirty years ago, competition from mall bookstores slashed this number in half. The meteoric rise of super-stores like Barnes & Noble and Borders cut this number in half again five years ago. What's not to like about cappuccino machines, cozy leather chairs, and a mountain of Tom Clancy novels?

But now it seems even the megastores have overreached their rise. One half of the contemporary book-superstore dynamic duo just filed for bankruptcy. It seems that while everyone did enjoy the cappuccino machines, cozy chairs, and free reading materials, this didn't necessarily translate into the actual sale of books. And while Borders's recent filing for Chapter 11 might be sweet revenge to those who ran and loved the independents, don't expect a renaissance of the independent bookstore. Consumers increasingly prefer to shop for books online, where they can find big discounts and take advantage of immediate download.

The demise of Borders only strengthens online bookselling giant Amazon, which is predicted to account for 50 percent of US trade sales in all formats by 2012. To get a perspective on this number, consider that just five years ago, all of the superstores and chains in the US combined only accounted for 45 percent of the US book retail market. Soon Amazon alone will be responsible for half of all book sales in the US—with and without cappuccino.

If there is a silver lining to this development, at least Amazon makes available many more small-press books than Borders and its corporate companions—and easily fills your order for a title by Raymond Federman or Cris Mazza. Shopping at the chains never did that (I make a habit of looking for my favorite ABR-reviewed authors in any bookstore).

Much like Random House, whose transformation from premier literary publishing house to market-fundamentalist megacorporation can be linked to its going public and its corporate takeover by RCA, the metamorphosis of Borders from darling of the independent bookstore world to its pariah can be associated with its purchase by another large corporation—in this case, Kmart.

In 1971, Tom and Louis Borders opened a small bookstore in the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Its success over the years encouraged the owners to open a second store in 1985 in nearby Detroit. When this store did well, they opened others. The stores were known throughout the Midwest and Northeast for their wide selection of new titles, but Borders stores retained their roots as academic booksellers. At any Borders, one could find piles of bestsellers alongside thousands of individual copies of scholarly titles—something unusual at the time for a bookstore chain.

Kmart, renowned for its "blue-light specials" on underwear and soap, acquired Borders in 1992, and merged it with Waldenbooks, the mall bookstore staple that it had acquired in 1984. The merger, called Borders Group (though I think "Kbooks" would have been more appropriate), went public in 1995.

While the acquisition of bookstore chains by a department store might sound strange, it seems fitting given that at one point department stores in the US were among the leading sellers of books. Shortly after they first starting selling books in late nineteenth century, department stores likes Macy's of New York became national leaders in book sales. And by the early 1950s, it has been estimated that between 20 to 40 percent of trade books were sold by department stores. These businesses favored books in their inventory...