Borders Blanchardstown Closing Down - 50% Off Everything!

Enii

On Friday, there seemed to be a run on Cookery books - not a great selection left.

LimeFruitGum

I was one of the "saddos" in the queue yesterday morning But considering I came up from Dun Laoghaire on Thursday evening, only to find the place had shut 45 mins ago, I was taking no chances

By 11, the queue had reached down the back of the shop, but it moved fairly quickly.

When I left at noon, there were still loads of books in Crime, Fiction, Sci-Fi, Horror. The Photography and Cookery sections were virtually depleted. I picked up the last Photoshop manual - sorry! I got 15 books for €100 (full price would have been €210). I reckon people had bought on average 5-10 books each. I remember seeing some people with a large cardboard box bursting with books, nudging the box up the queue with their foot.

LimeFruitGum

Enii wrote: »

On Friday, there seemed to be a run on Cookery books - not a great selection left.

yep - I was hoping to pick something up but all that was left were really specialised or "100 things to do with leftovers" kind of slop. :-/

bionic.laura

I'm just back from being away and found out Borders is closing, I signed the petition. Since some of the staff are on here I just want to thank them all for the great service I've got from them. It's a lovely shop with a great range and great to browse in. I hope it can be saved.
I'm also sorry for the Starbucks staff. They are great, I go to the knitting night there and they always very accommodating and they sometimes give us free cake at the end of the evening.

ntlbell

I think your all mad, even at 50% it's still cheaper to buy most books online and you don't have to get off your arse.

greendom

Anyone notice how the kids' section was looking?

greendom

ntlbell wrote: »

I think your all mad, even at 50% it's still cheaper to buy most books online and you don't have to get off your arse.

Well, personally speaking I'd much rather browse and buy in a fantastic store like Borders, than do it online.

robo

I love browsing through a shop, especially a book or music shop. Then going home to buy online what I have just been browsing.

GerardKeating

robo wrote: »

I love browsing through a shop, especially a book or music shop. Then going home to buy online what I have just been browsing.

Methinks that's part of the reason they are closing

ntlbell

GerardKeating wrote: »

Methinks that's part of the reason they are closing

maybe they should have considered reducing the price of the books...:)

Cringer

Apparently they were in profit before news of the closure.

LimeFruitGum

greendom wrote: »

Well, personally speaking I'd much rather browse and buy in a fantastic store like Borders, than do it online.

exactly - it was just a really pleasant place to shop. A world away from the madding, screeching crowds across the road in the Centre.;)

PaulieBoy

robo wrote: »

I love browsing through a shop, especially a book or music shop. Then going home to buy online what I have just been browsing.

And that makes you feel somewhat superior or something ?

robo

PaulieBoy wrote: »

And that makes you feel somewhat superior or something ?

How would that be the case? We all have choices.

rsl

Yeah, Great store, I always liked. I got books and magazines from there when ever I went to Blanchardstown. I know someone who works there-- I will be sorry for her, losing the job!!

James_R

DAMN, only finding out about this now. How's the Art/Design section looking? I'd imagine it's empty?

Shame it's closing down it was my go to bookstore for all design related mags etc.

jane says

Cringer wrote: »

Apparently they were in profit before news of the closure.

Which is why all the talk of petitions and the like is pointless. As said earlier on the thread, it was due to them getting obviously a very good offer on the leases. It was a good store, BUT, I would always consider Hodges and Figgis to have a serious edge on it due to their strengths in Irish books.

BostonB

The stock is all over the place. Lots of empty shelves. But theres still a lot of books there. We went in yesterday and I got some military/history books, and we found some kids books. Queue was only 5 mins. Seemed to be a pile of art and craft left. I didn't go through them though.

I did note that even with the 50% discount some of the books aren't cheap and even with the discount could probably be got elsewhere at the same price if not cheaper. So don't assume everything is cheaper.

BostonB

jane says wrote: »

Which is why all the talk of petitions and the like is pointless. As said earlier on the thread, it was due to them getting obviously a very good offer on the leases. It was a good store, BUT, I would always consider Hodges and Figgis to have a serious edge on it due to their strengths in Irish books.

I don't think they are/were the same kinda shops tbh.

James_R

BostonB wrote: »

The stock is all over the place. Lots of empty shelves. But theres still a lot of books there. We went in yesterday and I got some military/history books, and we found some kids books. Queue was only 5 mins. Seemed to be a pile of art and craft left. I didn't go through them though.

I did note that even with the 50% discount some of the books aren't cheap and even with the discount could probably be got elsewhere at the same price if not cheaper. So don't assume everything is cheaper.

Thanks BostonB I might head over there in a while and take a peak at what's left in the art section!!

greendom

jane says wrote: »

Which is why all the talk of petitions and the like is pointless. As said earlier on the thread, it was due to them getting obviously a very good offer on the leases. It was a good store, BUT, I would always consider Hodges and Figgis to have a serious edge on it due to their strengths in Irish books.

The main reason was that Borders are changing their business model to be more online based. Certain stores in the UK and the USA are closing too

thatsnotmyname

Sorry to see Border's closing they had a great selections of stuff and Brightened up the rather dull west end.
The borders staff were always very helpful and polite the same can't be said of the Starbucks staff upstairs :rolleyes: who i found to be rude on occasion.

Getting back to Borders they had a great selection but i rarely bought books there i usually went home and got the same book on line for nearly half the price !;)
my main buys would have been newspapers and magazines
sorry to see the staff lose their jobs.

alowe

I went in there this afternoon - about 2pm, and left at about 4.30pm - but all my time was spent browsing, and only about 2 mins queuing.

There were a few people in the shop, but not rammed- and everyone there was polite, and there was no grabbing for books. Mind you there was the odd crying child, and quite a few requests from older children to parents to go to the playground instead :rolleyes:

Anyway - as has been previously said, books aren't in categories anymore, although some are still beside one another, i.e. crime/travel/humour, etc. If you look around you can find gem's that I thought would have been snapped up (and probably would have been if in the right location.) I got hubbie to check prices online for me, and all were coming in cheaper in euros than the uk price on amazon - which excluded shipping - so definately bargains to be had.

LookingFor

Just to update on previous posts..I got an email back from the blanch centre in reply to my email to them about bringing borders to the main centre if possible.

The lady who replied was good enough to pass it on to the general manager who apparently read it.. they basically say that they don't have any direct contact with Borders at the moment but would be open to discussions with them if Borders wanted to stay in the D15 area.

I'm sure nothing will come of it, but it's nice to know they're listening and they at least have some idea of the feeling out there about its closure.

Nolimits

That shop literally got me interested in books. I went over there shortly after it opened to browse the dvd section and took a wander over to the books while I was there. Picked up a book (probably an autobiography) and have been going back in every few weeks or so since then. I went in friday afternoon que wasn't too bad about 20-25 minutes ,and got about ten books.

Would be great if it opened somewhere else in the center. Don't like books unlimited borders felt nice and closed off. Almost like your browsing in a library, books unlimited as well has being a fraction of the size has the opposite of this feeling. Although waterstones in jervis aint bad it's a long way.

Notsofatso

Has anyone been out there recently? Is there much stock left? Have the crowds died down?

Thanks

LookingFor

Crowds have died way down.

The back half of the shop is pretty much empty now, and closed off in fact.

Everything that's left has been moved to the front parts of the store. Whether it'd have stuff that interest you is hard to say...everything's jumbled up. I'm sure it's quite possible there's still good bargains to be had.

shoegirl

LookingFor wrote: »

By far the best store in the blanchardstown centre, and possibly the best book store in the country.

A lot of good native bookstores have shut in recent years, including Greenes, plus lots of small local stores. Most of them simply cannot complete with Amazon or bigger stores like Easons and Waterstones.

ARAIK even Hodgis Figgis is now owned by Waterstones.

The only bookshops that are making money in Ireland are those that specialise in schoolbooks, presumably because they are not open to competition from online retailers. And only because most of the books are Irish published and harder to get from international sellers.

norbert64

was in there on Sunday

pretty much just the book section left now
only 1 or 2 shelves of music and DVDs, and the magazine section has been closed.

mind you, I imagine a lot of stock has just been returned to the distributors/suppliers.

Little Miss Cutie

Any have any further update? Would it be worth a trip on sunday? I am mainly interested in paperchase stuff and fiction

Enii

Cutie_pc wrote: »

Any have any further update? Would it be worth a trip on sunday? I am mainly interested in paperchase stuff and fiction

Paperchase all sold out...........

robo

The books are no longer in the right sections. So if you have time to go through the shelves, you might find some good titles still.

LookingFor

As Borders enters its last days in Blanchardstown - - they're offering 75% off remaining stock.

I think this started today. Picked up a bunch of good books (ouch, my arm...) for the princely sum of €40. It was like being a kid in a candy store - just divide everything by four. And best of all? No queues

Stock has of course dwindled significantly since the sale started, and things are all jumbled up, but depending on what you're into there's still good bargains to be had. I'm lucky in that stuff I'm interested is still well represented.

Sunday is their last day of trading.

LookingFor

Everything is now €1

I was up there this afternoon and quite happily about to pick up some more books at 75% off when they made the announcement that everything in the store was now reduced to €1 to clear.

I picked up about €700 worth of books for €37.

:eek::eek:

My arms really are sore now. Was pretty much just limited by how much I could carry. I saw some folks bringing stuff to their car and going back for more.

viztopia

does anyone know what time they are open at tomorrow and sunday?

LookingFor

I think 10am, maybe 11am on Sunday.

If they sell out of stock sooner they may shut early, before Sunday

Half tempted to go back tomorrow morning and see what else I can find, but I'm thinking it might be bedlam tomorrow. Word will probably spread quickly about this.

LimeFruitGum

:eek:

What kind of books are left? Tomorrow is the last day, isn't it?
I'm really tempted to go back up there tomorrow morning now!

LookingFor

LimeFruitGum wrote: »

:eek:

What kind of books are left? Tomorrow is the last day, isn't it?
I'm really tempted to go back up there tomorrow morning now!

The back half or two thirds of the shop are now closed.

The rest of the shelves pretty much all have books still, but they're all jumbled up.

I think a lot depends on your interests on whether you'd find stuff you like or not. Some people will find stuff they like, others might find nothing.

Things like kids books and school books are pretty much all gone now. Might still find some here and there, but throughout the sale they seemed to be highest in demand.

edit - oh and Sunday is the last day, assuming stuff doesn't run out before that.

BostonB

This is a pain. I've just not been able to get to the store at all. yet I theres probably loads of oddball unpopular books I'd love there. Grrrr.

ixus

I was in there yesterday, picked up a few investement type books for €40 (RRP €200). I'm happy enough with that, though picking them up for €5 would have been sweet!

It took me at least 1.5 hours to trawl through every book there to find the ones I wanted. I left 4/5 behind. Can't see it being worth it going back to search for them.

If you're searching for something specific I don't think it's worth the trip 'cos the books are all over the place. You'll get a creak in your neck and pay more for physio!:pac:

If just going to pic up on spec may be worth it. I reckon the place will be mobbed tomorrow though!

greendom

LookingFor wrote: »

Everything is now €1

I was up there this afternoon and quite happily about to pick up some more books at 75% off when they made the announcement that everything in the store was now reduced to €1 to clear.

Thanks for this - my wife is there now filling her boots after reading this

LookingFor

I went back for some more myself...think that's pretty much it for me now. Pretty much all that's left is stuff that wouldn't be of interest to me. Things seem to be moving pretty quickly, it was very busy, so relatively difficult to browse. The queue moved quickly though, since they're just counting books at the till rather than scanning them.

greendom

Amazing - at a guestimate paid €70 for something like €1500 worth of books

LimeFruitGum

I couldn't help it, I went back this morning on spec.*blush*
My haul was 15 books, which would otherwise have totalled €216.95.

Borders - I'm going to miss it loads! :(:(

LimeFruitGum

Enii wrote: »

Paperchase all sold out...........

All that was left from that section, when I was there today, are High School Musical posters, badges and gift-wrap paper.

LookingFor

LimeFruitGum wrote: »

I couldn't help it, I went back this morning on spec.*blush*
My haul was 15 books, which would otherwise have totalled €216.95.

Borders - I'm going to miss it loads! :(:(

I know...it sort of really hit today

There is nowhere else I feel comfortable really spending a long time browsing or reading with a coffee or whatever. Libraries don't have the same vibe.

pauly3

I was thinking of going to Blanchardstown later today (Sunday) but was wondering if it is worth it. Anyone know if it will be crazily busy on the last day?

brettmirl

pauly3 wrote: »

I was thinking of going to Blanchardstown later today (Sunday) but was wondering if it is worth it. Anyone know if it will be crazily busy on the last day?

I'm pretty sure yesterday was the last day of trading there...so not much point heading over.

LimeFruitGum

pauly3 wrote: »

I was thinking of going to Blanchardstown later today (Sunday) but was wondering if it is worth it. Anyone know if it will be crazily busy on the last day?

I think there was a poster up yesterday saying that they might be open today, depending on stock. No harm going up on spec, there were still a few fiction books, biographies and some specialist titles left. I came back with a pretty decent range of books yesterday.

But it is probably best to give them a call to check.

Enii

Got 500 euro worth of books for 43 euro.