Beyond printed pages

Bookstore of future proves elusive target at new Borders store

By Patti Thorn, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 30, 2008 at 3 p.m.

Text size  

• 0 Comments
• Email
• Print

Linda McConnell / Special to the Rocky

The new Borders bookstore in Park Meadows is attempting to embrace the high-tech universe.

What will the bookstore of the future look like?

Retailers have been wringing their hands over this question ever since the first person downloaded a book onto the first crude ereader. Who needs a physical store, after all, when a home computer can bring you a new title in a matter of minutes?

In the face of this threat, you'd think booksellers would be running around like the fabled ant facing winter, desperately looking for ways to survive coming tough times. But instead, they seem more like a bunch of Little Miss Muffets, bound and determined to sit on their tuffets, as if any bold change would simply frighten them away.

Which is why Borders' spacious new store, officially opening this weekend in Park Meadows shopping mall, is encouraging, even as it misses the mark in many ways.

The chain store known recently for its multimillion-dollar losses rather than cutting-edge innovation has decided to embrace technology rather than bar the door and wait for it to bust in.

A few weeks ago, Borders offered a press preview of this "concept store," one of 14 test models opening in 2008 across the country. On a gloomy day, we walked into a space so new it was practically gleaming.

Yes, there were books (more displayed face-out than usual, all the better to have the covers catch a shopper's eye). But there were also high- tech options scattered throughout the store, including computer stations with various functions:

Is music your mania? Mix and burn your own CDs or download tunes to your MP3 player, seven songs for $9.95. A few clicks and the CD, complete with album art, will be waiting for you in short order.

* Food more your fancy? Head to the cooking area, where a computer helps narrow the cookbook choices. Prefer French? Italian? Click on your choice. Are you a vegetarian? Click again - and so on, until the computer spits out a list of recommended cookbooks specific to your needs. Not sure you want the book? Print out recipes to test at home before shelling out 30 bucks.

* If it's adventure you're salivating for, try the travel area. Tell the computer your idea of the perfect vacation (beautiful beaches? ancient ruins? city adventures?), and it will offer destination ideas and suggested travel guides to boot. Customers can also book airfare and car rental before leaving the store.

* Have an old manuscript collecting dust in a drawer? Borders is also betting, smartly, on the trend toward self-publishing, offering a station where customers can submit manuscripts to be turned into bound books. While this service is widely available through other vendors, Borders offers a special enticement: It promises to consider these books for placement on store shelves or for book-signing events.

* If you prefer to listen to the latest book rather than read it, thousands of audiobooks are available for download to portable digital players, as well as options for digital scrapbooking and genealogy searches.

The store also features an expansive coffee shop and high-tech product displays that include cutting-edge reading items, such as the slick Sony ebook.

Weeks before this weekend's grand opening, it all seemed like a shiny new bike waiting to be wheeled into the street, though later, I wondered if the new concept was really as roadworthy as it seemed. My main criticism is that much of the technology, while fun, is already a beat behind the times.

For example, who is likely to burn CDs? Not the most obvious target: teens and twentysomethings. They've been downloading music from their laptops for years, often for free.

Is anyone seriously going to book a trip online in the middle of a busy store? Most computer-savvy travelers are well versed in the offerings of Priceline and Travelocity and will opt to do their comparison shopping in the comfort of their own homes.

And anyone who knows his way around a search engine knows that you can scrapbook, self-publish, research your genealogy and even print out recipes without ever stepping into a Borders store.

Oddly enough, the most cutting- edge product a bookstore customer might be looking for in a technological age - ebooks to download to their electronic reading devices - is not yet available.

So what sort of customer is the company appealing to? A Borders press release provides a clue, noting that the store's primary demographic is "a mature, affluent, educated consumer that tends to be female," a person who also might not be "completely comfortable with technology."

The company is planning a hand- holding service in the form of trained staffers to help at the digital centers.

In other words, while it touts its high-tech innovations, the store is really geared to more low-tech users. If the approach doesn't make for stunning innovation, it at least represents a symbolic step forward in thinking.

"What the concept store is all about is bringing in all the new elements and seeing how customers react. The idea is to be in flux, to try different things," says general manager Gary McManners.

That will be crucial as time goes on, because further innovation looms just offstage. I keep thinking of a product called the Book Espresso Machine that's been in existence, though not widely used, for a few years. The machine stores titles digitally and can spit out a 300- page bound book in three minutes.

Right now, the founders are talking about bookstores using it to print slow-selling titles or rare books that would otherwise take up valuable shelf space. But isn't it only a hop, skip and a jump over the old Gutenberg press to a time when readers could go to a kiosk in the mall, insert their credit cards into a slot, choose from 500,000 titles and walk away with the latest James Patterson or Jennifer Weiner novel?

With a threat like that in the wings, you've got to give Borders credit for at least attempting change, even if it's largely window dressing. I don't have an MBA (and OK, I'll admit it, I can barely balance a checkbook), so perhaps I shouldn't be handing out business advice. But I think in these changing times I'm safe saying this:

No one, let alone booksellers, can afford to sit on their tuffets for long.

thornp@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5419

Weekend booking

The grand opening of the Borders book store in Park Meadows Mall began Friday and continues through the weekend. Festivities include:

* Giveaways, including Borders gift cards and a gift package of Borders' new digital services

* Author appearances, including children's writer Linda Ashman, thriller guru Stephen White and meteorologist Mike Nelson

* Face painting, a magician and children's story time

* Salsa dance, gardening and cupcake-decorating demonstrations

* Full schedule: NewParkMeadowsBorders.com or 303-708-1735

Featured

• Denver turns 150

  

  Read about the city's history, look at old photos and see a list of influential Denverites.

• Mount Crushmore

  

  Which four Broncos greats should be immortalized on Mount Crushmore? Vote here.

• Winter Escapes

  

  Your insider’s guide to the copious joys of the coolest season.

• Rocky Multimedia

  

  The news comes alive in our videos and slide shows. Catch up on what's happening today.

• Weekend plans?

  

  Figure out things to do this weekend with the help of our entertainment calendar.

• Season To Share

  

  The Post-News Season To Share campaign provides grants to area nonprofits.

• The Rocky @ 150 Years

  

  The Rocky was there when Colorado became a state in 1876. Read our coverage.

• A Dozen on Denver

  

  And the winner is... Robert Ziegler! See the whole fiction series by clicking here.

• Rocky Mountain Music

  

  Mark Brown blogs on the new Guns N' Roses album