business & professional
Beyond
Borders
Oak Park's tiny Book Beat
outlasts worldwide chain.
Cary Loren at the Book Beat
Jackie Headapohl
Managing Editor
L
ast Friday, Borders began clearing
out merchandise with a liquidation
sale at its remaining stores, which
all will close by the end of September. The
Ann Arbor-based bookseller, launched
40 years ago by brothers Tom and Louis
Border and now facing bankruptcy, was
unable to secure a buyer. The liquidation
means that 10,700 employees — includ-
ing 466 workers at its 26 Michigan loca-
tions — will be out of jobs this fall.
"We were all working hard toward a
different outcome, but the headwinds we
have been facing for quite some time,
including the rapidly changing book
industry, e-Reader revolution and turbu-
lent economy, have brought us to where
we are now:' Borders Group President
Mike Edwards said in a statement. "We
gave it everything we had, but ultimately
we lost:'
Oak Park's Book Beat, 26010 Greenfield,
has faced the same headwinds as Borders.
The independent bookstore, which
opened its doors in 1982, had the added
challenge of competing with the behe-
moth bookseller, whose dominance of the
market put many other small bookstores
out of business. Through it all, Book Beat
has continued to serve its loyal customers.
The JN sat down with owner Cary Loren
to get his take on Borders' closing.
JN: How have you managed to stay
in business while big-box retailers like
Borders and Barnes & Noble put many
other independents out of business?
Loren: We specialized. Our niche is in
children's books and art books, which
allows us to go in-depth in those areas.
My wife, Colleen Kammer, reads thou-
sands of children's books every year. She's
our 'secret weapon: Parents, teachers and
educators come to her for advice. Second,
we give a lot of personal service to our
customers. We know many of them by
first name. We also work to bring many
authors into the community. We hold spe-
cial events. We have a book club.
We also have loyal customers, but other
local small bookstores that didn't make
it had loyal customers as well. It hasn't
been easy for us either, especially in this
economy. We were able to get some con-
cessions from our landlord. We're working
outside the store to aggressively grow our
business.
JN: How is Book Beat adjusting to the
e-book revolution, which seemed to be a
factor in the failure of Borders?
Loren: We're not really thinking about
it. There is certainly a place for e-books
— they're convenient when traveling, for
instance. However, I am of the opinion
that people need physical libraries. There's
something special about physical books.
Studies have shown that children's IQs go
up just by having books in their home. I
don't see physical books disappearing. If
so, that would be a sad day. That said, the
book industry is in transition, and the
future of publishing is foggy, but we plan
to still be here for people.
JN: Where do you think Borders went
wrong?
Loren: I think their first mistake
came 20 years ago when they sold the
business to Kmart. What does Kmart
know about books? They were hiring
executives and marketing professionals
— not necessarily book lovers. Here we
love books, and that guides our choices.
Borders' slide began — even as they
were expanding and adding coffee shops
— when that sale was made. Ultimately,
a whole series of choices led to its
downfall, especially allowing inves-
tors to run the company. One month
after Borders declared bankruptcy in
February, it asked the court to approve
an executive bonus plan. That shows
what kind of culture they had. Had they
really wanted to save the business, they
would have made different choices.
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