Which bookstore is better?

[Deja Q]

Poll question: Which bookstore is better?

O8)

I'll be back in 2 and 2 with the answer...

[JanMichael]

1. B and N is listed on the "Buy Blue" website

major Dem contributors.

They get our money.

Stephanie

[Deja Q]

3. Wrong. They are MINOR Dem contributors:

B&N gave 98% to Dems last year.

Borders gave 100%. :7

(souce: buyblue.org)

As I've said before, any company that doesn't give 100% to Blue is outright Red, as far as I'm concerned.

Borders is, albeit by 2% but it's still a more important percentage, the better book store.

[name not needed]

5. You're kidding, right?

[jonnyblitz]

9. Borders is the one closest to me.

BUT i remember reading in lefty mags a few years back they are union UNFRIENDLY and there were pickets and boycotts of certain Borders (I forget which ones). contributing to DEMS I guess doesn't always equate to being union friendly. I am not arguing with you btw, just telling you what i have read. I go to Borders so I can't criticize. :shrug:

[Krupskaya]

28. There are two Borders that have signed union contracts.

The original one in Ann Arbor, and the one in Uptown Minneapolis. Both were signed after long battles (w00t UFCW!). If I shop Borders, I shop those two. Otherwise it's either Powells online (through powellsunion.com) or at the indy bookstore I work at.

[jonnyblitz]

33. thanks for that info.

I KNOW now what you have told me is what I read about. :hi:

[Redleg]

15. Shouldn't you also look at the amount of money donated?

Your rule of thumb seems pretty exclusive to me.

[Osamasux]

35. The total money given is net of all employees and the company itself.

It is not all under their control. Election law dictates that contributors specify where they work and that information stays with the donation. If some B&N employees contribute to Republicans, it counts as B&N in the statistics. The difference between being listed at 90% and 100% is unimportant.

[TwilightZone]

39. ....

"As I've said before, any company that doesn't give 100% to Blue is outright Red, as far as I'm concerned."

Calling a company that donates 98% of their political donations to Democratic candidates "outright Red" is a little silly.

Have you considered that the 2% might have gone to a local politician running unopposed? Or a politician running in a non-party election, such as county commissioner, etc.?

[scarlet_owl]

2. I don't like Borders.

Their selection really sucks.

[name not needed]

4. Magazine rack isn't up to date, either

I've picked up one too many old copies of Kerrang.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

6. Borders has a better DVD section (but pricey)

I used to like Borders better, but the more time I spend in Barnes and Noble, the more I prefer it. The Starbucks doesn't hurt (but I do love Borders hot chocolate).

[Left Is Write]

16. I like Borders coffee a bit better, but they do tend to be pricey for

movies and music.

I prefer the atmosphere of our local Borders to that of the B&N, but the B&N stays open later, and they have a larger magazine selection.

I like both stores, and they are right across the street from each other, so I can't even use location as a decider.

We usually wind up at Borders because of the atmosphere and the coffee.

[greendog]

12. Big store...nothing in it

Our local Borders doesn't even have a biography section. Their CD selection sucks and is poorly maintained.

When they came to town last year the impact was bad enough to close a very good local music store (the only one for hundreds of miles). :grr:

[Left Is Write]

18. Neither does ours, and that was a bone of contention one evening.

That's the only time I can recall recently that we left Borders and went across the street (literally!) to Barnes & Noble.

I wanted to browse biographies. I looked everywhere for a biography section. Another couple was also looking for the biography section. I finally asked an employee, who told me they didn't have one. I asked why not. He said that the biographies were grouped according to subcategory (political figures, historical figures, etc). He asked me whose biography I was looking for. I said I didn't know, and that was why I wanted to browse biographies of all stripes until something caught my eye.

[jellybelly]

7. Are you asking for a better BOOK store or

a better contributer to Dems?
I'm confused after reading the replies.

Barnes and Noble has a much better selection...and it's cleaner.

[jellybelly]

8. dupe

[RagingInMiami]

10. I normally go to Barnes and Nobles

But I discovered last week that Borders has a much better selection in photography books, which is what I'm into.

[GreenArrow]

11. screw 'em both

Our local mainstay independent bookstore was bought up by Borders last year. I'd rather shop local.

I think Barnes and Noble has a better selction, but I seldom go there, since Borders is considerably closer.

[Taverner]

48. Althought Borders is much kinder in buyouts than B&N

They usually give the option of franchisement, stock and employee retention (with packages that are generally better than the small bookstores can offer.)

The Borders near me used to be an independant bookstore, but the company gave the owner a sweet deal to convert - which included health benefit increases for her longtime employees for whom she couldn't afford such a generous plan.

Not all buyouts are created equal tho...

[GOPisEvil]

13. Neither! Independents rule!

www.bookpeople.com

But, cheers for B&N and Borders for at least putting some of their profits to good use.

[Democrat Dragon]

14. They are both the same

It depends widely on the store itself.

[ignatius 2]

17. Barnes and Noble's give to the dems, I love their own prints, they have

wonderful remainders and their coffee is awesome.

However, I still prefer the independent bookstores when u can find one.

[Left Is Write]

21. My ultimate preference is usually for used bookstores.

Unless, of course, I'm looking for something just released.

I like the atmosphere in used bookstores. I feel like each book has a story to tell besides the one written on the pages. I love the smell of old books. I especially like bookstores that carry old and rare books also.

[DrZeeLit]

19. Helllloooo? Any little local book nook rules! Buy LOCAL!!!!

Come on! What's a few bucks! Support those cool little bookstores or they will be gone and we'll all be stuck with Walmartbordersnoble....

Or... Use and support your Public Library -- they are also on the ropes (less and less funding) and our librarians are heroes who fight the Patriot Act.

[Left Is Write]

23. I do support the local library, and that's a good point.

I like to own books, though, so I must go to bookstores. :)

(Of course, now I think about it, plenty of libraries have book sales fairly often. I picked up two bagsful of books at the local library while visiting my folks last summer.)

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. After a vast sampling of both, from Hawaii to NYC and WI and

other areas, I have to say that Borders gives me the creeps and I've never liked that they put price stickers on the backs of the books and their selection has always been shitty and something about the store layouts and the decor and the people who work there has creeped me out at every one of them. They also seem to have shit in terms of people coming to sign books, and even their coffee bar areas are weak and miserable and their magazine sections always suck.

Barnes and Noble, however, no matter where I've been, have been nice, have somehow just "felt" more welcoming and professional and serious, have a better selection of books, especially leftist and artistic stuff, do way better in terms of getting cool and bitchin' authors in to do signings and talks, and their coffee bars always rock (and I think that now they're all Starbucks, but I can't confirm that).

Screw Borders. I simply can't stand them. Sadly, now that's all I have available to me after leaving NYC where I had access to the Union Square B&N and Lincoln Center B&N and 82nd and Broadway B&N and a number of other ones.

Borders - gives me shudders and the willies.

B&N - makes me feel like I've returned home whenever I walk into one.

And lest anyone poo poo me, this includes a number of stores that I went into that I didn't know whether it was a B&N or a Borders (because I never bothered to keep them apart). Once I decided I needed to know which stores were which, and went back to the stores I'd been to before, I was able to come to all these conclusions. So this isn't me going into a Border's with an already bad attitude; this is a legitimate scientific blind survey, done from Hawaii to NYC.

[Ron Green]

22. Powells. eom

[6000eliot]

29. Didn't they lock out their workers

when they tried to unionize? Of course, Borders isn't any better.

[Ron Green]

31. I can't imagine that. They appear to be almost co-op like in their staff's

attitude. Maybe someone here can shed light on it. I just know that they are the biggest, most comprehensive book store I've known.

[graywarrior]

24. The one I work at. The new Goodwill Bookstore in Sarasota

60% off used recent releases, $1.99 to 2.99 hardcovers, $1.49-1.99 paperbacks. No coffee shop, but what the hell.

[DrZeeLit]

25. Maybe find a way to add a coffee shop and you'll increase sales and

that's GREAT for Goodwill Industries, right?

You've got a good idea there -- run with it!

[graywarrior]

26. Goodwill doesn't want to complicate it's earnings with licenses

for food and beverages.

We open this Friday but already people are showing up trying to get in early.

[DrZeeLit]

27. Hmmm, maybe somebody should get their own coffee cart?

Don't know what a license costs, but some of those carts make a lot of money, don't they?

(had a friend who got a cart license for hotdogs in Chicago at the lake... oooh, made a bundle... ended up hiring some college kids to run it... very nice)

[graywarrior]

30. OK, talked me into it. I'll start one

[DrZeeLit]

32. Keep me posted on your success! n/t

Ooh, that was a PLEASE keep me posted on your success.
Thanks.

[baldguy]

34. Go to your local used book store.

[outraged2]

36. Half Price Books

They are a family owned used book store based in Dallas, but have locations all over the country now - mostly west of the Mississippi. I worked for them for about three years and they are good to their employees - profit sharing, Christmas bonuses, 401k, health insurance and more. They are also available online, but not as good as going to a physical location.

[AllyCat]

41. I love Half Price!

Great deals, clever displays, and fun on a snowy afternoon. Nice to recycle things for cash too.

[LDS Jock]

47. I spend two hours at Half Price on Saturday

Love that store.

[Dukkha]

37. Half Price Books

http://www.halfpricebooks.com

They're the coolest

I use Amazon and eBay too. I always try to get 1st edition Hardbacks so I search through them.

[ignatius 2]

44. No,no,no..Amazon donates 100% to the Repuke party.

n/t

[yellowdogintexas]

38. We have two of each here. I prefer the Borders that is nearest

to my house, and it is all about ambience in that store. It was a supermarket before it was a bookstore, and the original deli is where the cafe is so you walk right into the cafe when you enter the store; it is not in a pod offset from the rest of the store. They had old 1950's vintage formica and steel tables, and other neat vintage style tables and chairs, a curved bar that separated the cafe from the magazine area, they don't care if you drag books into the cafe area from inventory,
and they have a couple of big comfy sofas and some chairs in a sort of lounge area in the music dept. HUGE music department, best in town.

I am not so fond of the other Borders. Too modern, not enough comfy chairs, coffee shop is offset from the store, feels cold

Our big B&N downtown is pretty neat, very large cafe and a two story tall statue of a rodeo rider by the escalators. The children's area is in a big bay tower on the second floor. I don't like the other one much at all, although I do shop there.

We have several Half Price Bookstores, great for shopping, lousy for selling books to. And a wonderful little used bookshop that gives you trade credits and is managed by a long haired Siamese cat named Simon and his grey tabby littermate, Schuster. Very neat shop, located near a large high school and a university.

Our public library just opened a book shop too..I haven't been there yet but it is near our house and there is a mom and pop coffee house in the same shopping strip (it's in a converted movie theatre)

I used to love this old bookstore in Nashville, can't remember the name of it now..it was downtown and was at first glance a huge jumbled mass of disorganization. Of course it really wasn't that disorganized but it had been there forever, and it smelled like an old bookstore. Was it Mills Bookstore? Any old Nashvillians who remember it? It was on Church street between the old Loews and the Paramount, somewhere around 7th & Church, I think. but it was the kind of place you would see in an old 1930's English movie.

[Chicago Democrat]

40. ANYTHING OTHER THAN those two

Support your independent Bookstores.

[hickman1937]

42. I love both. Borders in my city does

some quirky things. I walked in one time and in the middle of the store were a bunch of puppies. They were foster puppies for Leader Dog. The parents were there to promote fostering puppies. Barnes and Noble is better stocked, but Borders has more comfy chairs around the store.

[sakabatou]

43. Mine has a bigger graphic novel section

than any other B and N I went to.

[Bok_Tukalo]

45. From that list, Barnes and Noble

But only because it is across the street from The Flying Saucer in Ft Worth that has god-a-million beers on tap.

[Nikia]

46. I know that I should support local

But I love Barnes and Noble. They have a great selection and usually have many books at lower prices. One of my Christmas present was a hefty gift certificate to there. I thought that was one of the best gifts ever.

[terrya]

49. Unabridged Books in Chicago.

My favorite bookstore. Great selection of gay and lesbian themed books...and a pretty terrific selection of books, period. It doesn't have a place to get coffee ala Borders or Barnes and Noble...but, so what.

T