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A Bargain Shopper’s Guide to Borders’ Liquidation Sale

July 27, 2011 by Renee Claire

By now, you’ve heard (through a news article containing the phrase “final chapter,” no doubt) that Borders Books is liquidating its remaining 399 stores. Liquidation started last Friday, and should end at all stores in September.

I worked at Borders for three and half years, first as a bookseller, and then as a key holder/manager, until my store closed in February. I find the entire thing sad, and while I felt liquidation was almost inevitable, I’m surprised at how quickly it has come about.

Reading some of the press about the sales, it became apparent that some people don’t get how liquidation sales work, like the guy who felt “duped” when the sales on the first day of a 2 month liquidation sale weren’t all that great. Or the people saying that Borders will “f*** up the liquidation sale just like they f***** up everything else” (fyi, the liquidation company runs the sale, not Borders).

I worked my store’s close-out till the end, and shopped two earlier Borders close-out sales. I have saved hundreds of dollars at these sales–I saved over $300 in one transaction alone (and the books had gone to $1, so I only spent $26). Based on my experience, these sales are worth your time. Here are some pointers for the best experience:

Store categories are priced individually.

It’s entirely possible that Romance is 40% off and Mystery/Thriller’s discount is only 20%. Categories should be written on the corresponding sale percentage sign.

Do calculations before you hit the register.

Even if the percentage off sounds impressive, the actual dollar amount saved may not be. Look at the sticker. Round up to the next dollar amount, divide that by 10, and multiply that by the first number in the percentage amount, minus one (to account for sales tax, which hovers around 7 to 10%). For example, if I have a $7.95 book that is 40% off, I’d round it up to $8, then divide that by 10, giving me $0.80. Then I’d multiply $0.80 by 3 to get $2.40, for a final price of $5.55. Not bad, but not so impressive sounding as “40% Off.”

This calculation also slightly underestimates your discount, meaning the only surprise you’ll get at the register will be a good one.

Don’t buy anything that isn’t 40% or more off.

Because 40% off, plus sales tax, is really more like 30% off. And almost anything can be found on Amazon or similar sites for that amount (or used! used books are amazing! and the library is free).

Also, even if the discount isn’t quite as good online, being able to buy something when you want to, rather than when a sale forces you to, can be worth the extra dimes.

There are exceptions. Mass market paperbacks, for example, almost never get discounted online. Ditto magazines and gifts & stationery. When I’m unsure about buying a book, I personally check Paperbackswap.com, and then Amazon and/or Walmart.com. If it still looks like a good deal compared to those sites, then I buy it.

Observe basic liquidation etiquette.

So nearly 11,000 people are about to be out of work. Be nice to them.

Put back the books you don’t want. Don’t try to squirrel away items for later (we made a game of finding these and then handselling them or giving them face-outs). Most stores have removed their computers, so there’s no way for workers to look things up for you. No holds and no returns, no exceptions. Be ready when you get to the register.

Smile. Don’t ask workers what they’re doing next, in case they don’t know. Try not to tell them how sorry you are or how sad it is (that the store’s closing, that they’re losing their jobs, etc). We know it’s well meant, but imagine people telling you they’re sorry for you 100+ times a day, for two months. It’s depressing.

Finally, do not complain about anything to the workers. Complain all you want to your friends, later. But not to the workers. These people are losing their jobs in a weak economy, are working a close-out sale (which anyone who’s worked one knows is very stressful) and do not owe you a better discount, the books you wanted, a bathroom, or anything else.

Bookshelf from Borders Close-outDon’t forget the fixtures. 

During my store close-out, I bought three solid wood bookshelves (photo of one at right) for $72 total. I got an employee discount, but I think a non-employee would pay about $80 per case, which is still awesome for what you get. They also have smaller bookshelves, solid wood tables, book carts and hand trucks, plastic bins for sorting gifts & stationary, chairs (though I would not buy the big black chairs*), magazine racks, cafe equipment, and assorted store fixtures. It is good stuff, and the prices are sweet.

*When I was a bookseller, one woman fell asleep and peed herself in one of those chairs. Very smelly people also sat in them for hours. I’d rather sit on the floor.

Nobody knows how the sale will progress to a day, not even the liquidator. 

People always sidled up to us & asked when prices were going to “get really good” or drop below a certain amount. They’d then get miffed when we said we didn’t know, because they assumed we were lying. “Well,” they’d say, “of course you wouldn’t tell me…” But we really didn’t know. Even management didn’t know, and neither did the liquidator.

Here’s how it worked in my store. We had two liquidator representatives in store, one in charge of selling off all the appliances & fixtures, and one in charge of selling off all the books, multimedia, etc. That second guy is the one who made the decisions about when to drop prices.

He made those decisions based on a) daily sales figures, which I or another manager called in every night after close and b) his company’s projections. If a certain area of the store wasn’t selling quickly enough, that area would get a price cut. If the entire store wasn’t selling quickly enough, then it would get a price cut. As far as I could tell, this was decided on a daily and sometimes hourly basis.

Price cuts happen in 10% increments. Certain areas of the store tend to get cut quicker: magazines, gifts & stationery, and romance books. Children’s books & games sell well regardless of discount, and tend to sell out quickly. Ditto for cookbooks. Everything else kind of depends on the store. Your best bet is to check in with the store weekly, and then, towards the last week of the sale, daily.

Finally, I’ll just note that this sale is more aggressive than the last one. Our close-out started at 10% for the entire store. Then it dropped to 20%, and finally (after weeks) 30%+. This closeout started with some items at 40%. There are also a lot more bargain shoppers this time around, though that may drop off.

The sale speeds up toward the end. 

Especially at the very end, when the discounts go from 60% to 70% and lower, at warp speed. The last two days at my store, books were $1, although the only good stuff left was gone by the second day. Sale end dates are hard to predict, though; the official estimate is 8 to 10 weeks, so my guess would be 6 weeks for smaller stores and up to 8 weeks for the rest.

I think that about covers it. If you have any questions, have more sale advice, or if you’re a fellow Borders bookseller/bookstore worker/anyone who’s worked a retail close-out sale, I’d love to hear from you!

Filed Under: Books

Beautiful Books: Sourcebooks’ Reissues of Georgette Heyer

June 29, 2011 by Renee Claire

This is part of a series on Beautiful Books; see the full series here.

Georgette Heyer Sourcebooks Reprints

Background: Georgette Heyer (pronounced “Hare”) published her first book, The Black Moth, at age 19, and published 57 novels in as many years. She wrote contemporary mysteries and historical novels, but is most famous for her Georgian and Regency romances. She essentially invented the Regency romance subgenre. Her fans include Noel Coward, Stephen Fry, Dorothy L. Sayers, and most name romance writers, including Mary Balogh, Nora Roberts, & Catherine Coulter. 

With guilty pleasure reads, the guilt often outstrips the pleasure. So when witty Erin McKean of A Dress A Day (who used to edit the Oxford American Dictionary & now writes novels) named her favorite bath-tub reads, I made note. Her list included books by Georgette Heyer, Donald E. Westlake, and Angela Thirkell; since I’m a romance reader (yes, one of them), Heyer was the obvious first choice.

I started with Heyer’s The Grand Sophy, and that was it. I was hooked. Heyer uses enough exclamation points to give Elmore Leonard indigestion. She goes through adverbs like water and often uses speech tags other than “said.” She breaks a lot of rules, and yet, at its best, her work is frothy, ridiculous magic.

What makes her stand out, aside from her period knowledge, is her wit. A sample quote from Frederica (part of a conversation between the hero Lord Alverstoke & his sister):

“Do you mean to tell me that Mr. Trevor read my letter?” demanded Lady Buxted indignantly. “Your secretary?”
“I employ him to read my letters,” explained his lordship.
“Not those written by your nearest and dearest!”
“Oh, no, not them!” he agreed.”

Georgette Heyer Sourcebooks Reprints (2)

Most readers like her romances best, then her mysteries, and finally her historical fiction, although individual books vary dramatically in quality. Keep in mind that her romance books are more often romps than romances, and there are no sex scenes. Her language is also denser than modern genre readers are used to, and she piles on the period slang. I like slang (e.g., “make a cake of oneself,” “doing it far too brown”), and there are Heyer websites to help you decipher it all, but if you’d rather not, try her mysteries instead.

Finally, as mentioned, her work can be uneven. Goodreads ratings and reviews are very helpful in weeding out the bad novels from the good; I’d personally start someone off with The Grand Sophy, Cotillion, Frederica, or Black Sheep (romances) or Behold, Here’s Poison, The Unfinished Clue, or They Found Him Dead (mysteries).

Back to the ostensible reason for this post, however: the exquisite Heyer reprints by Sourcebooks. They are highly collectible and a joy to read. Each book features jewel-like coloring, bright endpapers, and high-quality white paper. They are also distinguished by brilliant and period-appropriate cover & spine images, carefully selected from private art collections (though some covers were taken from Arrow editions, Heyer’s UK publisher). For the full scoop on the reprints, check out this interview with Sourcebooks’ Dawn Pope at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, and check out Sourcebooks’ website. The best online prices as of this posting were at Amazon & Walmart, though I’d recommend trying her work at the library first.

Filed Under: Beautiful Books, Books

Beautiful Books: The Bloomsbury Group

May 11, 2011 by Renee Claire

This is part of a series on Beautiful Books; see the full series here.

Bloomsbury Group Books

The Bloomsbury Group is self-described as “a new library of books from the early twentieth-century chosen by readers for readers.” Judging by the blank website, the idea did not take off & has presumably been abandoned. That said, I love the covers & book descriptions of the existing titles, which are still in print.

The series includes Let’s Kill Uncle, about orphan & heir Barnaby Gaunt, who realizes he must kill his murderous uncle before his uncle kills him; and a recent purchase, Miss Hargreaves, wherein a letter to an imaginary octogenarian goes awry when the fictional woman turns up–real, in the flesh–on the letter writer’s doorstep.

Other notable books include Mrs. Tim of the Regiment, by D.E. Stevenson, author of the Miss Buncle books, and Joyce Dennys’ Henrietta books (Henrietta’s War & the sequel Henrietta Sees It Through). I’ll leave you with the description of Henrietta’s War, which epitomizes the quirky coziness of the line:

Spirited Henrietta wishes she was the kind of doctor’s wife who knew exactly how to deal with the daily upheavals of war. But then, everyone in her close-knit Devonshire village seems to find different ways to cope: there’s the indomitable Lady B, who writes to Hitler every night to tell him precisely what she thinks of him; the terrifyingly efficient Mrs Savernack, who relishes the opportunity to sit on umpteen committees and boss everyone around; flighty, flirtatious Faith who is utterly preoccupied with the latest hats and flashing her shapely legs; and then there’s Charles, Henrietta’s hard-working husband who manages to sleep through a bomb landing in their neighbour’s garden.

See the full list at Amazon.

Filed Under: Beautiful Books, Books

The Beautiful Books Series

May 10, 2011 by Renee Claire

Beautiful Books Series IntroAt right: Persephone’s Mariana, Bloomsbury Group’s Let’s Kill Uncle, NYRB’s A High Wind in Jamaica.

When I shop for books, I’m normally more interested in bargains than beauty (give me a yellowed $1 paperback over a pristine $25 hardcover any day). However, some books are special. Certain books are so beautifully designed, and the content within so unusual, that they are precious objects, functional artwork, like Van Cleef & Arpels earrings or gold filigree fountain pens.

Here, then, is a series honoring those books and their publishers. I will divide the series into three parts:

Links added as posts go up.

FORGOTTEN CLASSICS

  • Persephone Books
  • The Bloomsbury Group
  • The New York Review of Books Classics & Children’s Collection
  • Penguin’s Great Food series
  • Sourcebooks reissues of Georgette Heyer’s work
  • Virago Modern Classics (website link)
  • Melville House’s Neversink Library (website link)

BOOKS IN TRANSLATION

  • Europa Editions
  • Vertical Press
  • The New York Review of Books Classics

POPULAR CLASSICS

  • Coralie Bickford Smith’s work
  • Penguin’s Great Ideas series
  • Folio Collection
  • Annotated Classics
  • Jillian Tamaki’s work

What have I forgotten?

Filed Under: Beautiful Books, Books

To See: Encounters at the End of the World

April 21, 2011 by Renee Claire

We just watched this on Netflix Instant watch, and it is weird and wonderful and makes me want to watch everything Werner Herzog ever made:

Herzog’s perspective is so unusual, his obsessions so primal, and his humor so grimly Teutonic (“I loathe the feeling of sun on my celluloid and on my skin”) that I love him and yet want to parody him at the same time. Apparently, I’m not alone; there’s a Youtube series featuring “Werner Herzog’s” (not really him) interpretations of children’s classics. Below is my favorite, “Werner Herzog Reads Madeline”; the dark reading of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel is another gem.

“Children are next door to sociopaths.”

Filed Under: Books, Film, Film + TV

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