borders books hyannis

Bread & Roses, new Hyannis bookshop & café, mixes vegan menu, coffee, social justice

Town Hall and Main Street regulars now have even more choices for their morning coffee: oat, soy, hemp or almond milk, or a Massachusetts-made kombucha instead.

The former Rendezvous set has migrated east to Bread & Roses Bookshop and Café, located at 302 Main St., a block from the Transportation Center and open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Owner Nathan Herschler, of West Barnstable and Sandwich, is specializing in "good reads, good eats, good folks, good trouble."

"I'm passionate about vegan food, really good coffee and the books," he said. "That's  the stuff that’s 'me.'"

The name of his newly opened small business is inspired by the 1912 textile workers' walk-out from the mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts and what has since become known as the "Bread and Roses" strike.

"I’ve been on the Cape for 10 or 11 years," Herschler said. "It took 10 years to figure out where the gaps are in terms of justice and community development issues around here."

Herschler grew up in Wayland, attended Wheaton college in Norton, and graduated from law school in Washington, D.C., focusing his studies on animal protection and human rights. He interned for the Human Society (now Animal Outlook) and was hired by the International Fund for Animal Welfare right out of law school, doing litigation and policy work.

When his ex was accepted to Harvard for dental school, he moved here, serving as executive director of the nonprofit Rise for Animals until last April, when he decided to pursue a dream once reserved for his own retirement.

"With COVID, the Trump presidency and having worked in nonprofits for 15 years, it was time for a change," he said. "I bought this building, and I'm spending all my money to set this place up." 

There are two populations here on the Cape, Herschler said – "wealthy tourists and professionals, and residents who are often immigrants and people of color…living in the worst possible circumstances because of lack of housing.

"I'm trying to change those dynamics in a substantial way without gentrifying, or else the economy is going to collapse," he said. For example, "there’s nowhere for people to buy fresh produce around here. There are a lot of people in this community that don’t have cars and have to spend $10 to $15 for an Uber to go grocery shopping."

He plans to change that by purchasing locally grown produce, selling used books as well as new titles, roasting his own coffee, and offering "living wage" salaries of $18 to $22/hr. plus medical benefits to his employees.

"I’m very blessed; I have a very lucky life," he said. "I want to try to make other peoples’ lives better."

Herschler incorporated in May 2021, opened the day before Thanksgiving, and is already planning to expand beyond his current seating for 37. He plans to knock out a wall over the next couple of months and extend the café hours into evening, serving dinner and fancy cocktails, local drafts, wine, and strawberry-rhubarb cider.

"We're going to try to become a community hub," he said. "We want to be investing right back here in the community," planning Saturday breakfast for kids with food insecurity, and coordinating with MassDevelopment in hopes of launching village food recycling and compost programs.

“Bookmarks are for quitters” reads the countertop sign that greets visitors. For Bread & Roses' full menu of plant-based foods, visit www.brcapecod.com.

A Decade After Borders Shut Down, Here’s What’s in Its Former Locations

The defunct bookstore chain’s spaces are a tricky size to fill..

It’s been almost exactly ten years since the last Borders bookstore closed, following the company’s February 2011 bankruptcy. Vacating roughly five hundred locations throughout 2011, the erstwhile king of brick-and-mortar book retailing left behind a massive real-estate footprint, millions in unused gift cards, and a lot of memories. (And did you know “Borders” was the last name of two brothers who founded the chain, and not a reference to expanding the borders of your mind?)

It is hard to overstate, yet already difficult to remember, just how popular and big Borders was. More than Barnes & Noble, its similarly sized competitor, Borders was practically synonymous with bookstores during its height in the 1990s and early 2000s. In its heyday it was one of the finest and most successful examples of the category killer or “ medium-box ” store, a now-struggling retail concept that mixes discounting and large selection with curation and attention to quality.

Borders distinguished itself in a number of ways. Most of its stores boasted a café and comfortable interior, and later free wifi, which made them social, multi-use spaces: light breakfast spots, teen hangouts, places to read a story to the kids. The chain also included an unusual number of two-story locations, and many urban or downtown ones as well. Despite its large footprint and rapid expansion, many of its stores were architecturally unique. In a fascinating and detailed post on the chain’s style , architect Marc Lortie notes, “Some Borders stores featured circular turret towers that would jut out of the corner of the façade, physically embodying some of the idyllic romance and innocence of children’s books.”

Borders curated its selection with some attention to local interests , ameliorating some of the concern over the fate of local, idiosyncratic bookstores. And despite the heat it took as a corporate chain, Borders unquestionably increased the quantity and variety of books available to the average consumer at reasonable prices, combining the discounting of Walmart with the browsing ability of the local library. “The big-box store [for books] was a glorious thing while it lasted,” Wharton School professor Dan Raff told NPR in 2011. “To people in many parts of America, they were a kind of Aladdin’s cave.”

But Borders also did damage to itself. One widely noted misstep was the chain’s emphasis on media sales—CDs and DVDs—even as it was becoming increasingly clear that physical media was a dwindling market. (Although if Borders had eked it out, perhaps they’d be selling vinyl today!) Unlike Barnes & Noble, which rolled out its own e-reader in 2009, Borders showed little interest in e-books. And in an early and deeply symbolic misstep, the company outsourced its e-commerce operations in 2001 —to Amazon. It later took back its own web operations in 2008, too late and behind the e-commerce curve.

There were also concerns that the company had overexpanded, a mistake common to a number of defunct retailers. Many Borders locations, intentionally placed near Barnes & Noble stores, faced stiff competition. Many were oversized as well. In a Twitter thread I started about the chain, one former employee recalled being told by his general manager that Borders offered a “third space”—i.e., neither home nor work —“and how that justified huge square footage, multi-levels, and a café even at stores that (unlike ours) didn’t have high foot traffic.” The things that made Borders a pleasant space to lounge also cut into its profitability.

When it went bankrupt, Borders was so big that its failure stranded over $200 million in unused gift cards , triggering a multi-year legal saga that ended in the Supreme Court declining to involve itself in the issue . Who knew a bookstore would help set a precedent that gift-card holders are basically out of luck when a company goes bankrupt?

But along with the memories, the worthless plastic, and a throwback webpage on the Barnes & Noble website welcoming former Borders customers , Borders lives on in the form of its vacated real estate, the afterlife of which is still unfolding. Storefronts in the category-killer segment have proven difficult to fill in recent years—many of the category killers who would otherwise lease them are themselves struggling or defunct , and the spaces tend to be too small for discount department stores and too large for most others. They’re useless to a Walmart or Target, which have fewer competitors than they had even twenty years ago; and they’re too large for things like drugstores, specialty shops, and most small businesses.

For some insight, I asked on Twitter if anybody recalled a local Borders location, and what its status is today. To my surprise, I received nearly 100 responses regarding locations all over the country, representing a considerable share of the chain’s entire portfolio. In addition to those tips, I used Google Maps and its Street View function to look at a number of former Borders sites. The fate of these stores says something about where America’s overbuilt retail is going. Broken down roughly, this is what happened to them.

Of the sizable sample I looked at, only a few have been demolished. About 10 percent have been subdivided into two or more spaces. A small number have become other bookstores—the Books-A-Million chain, for example, took over several Borders locations. A few have become restaurants; the space seems to suit a certain kind of big-scaled eatery . Somewhat larger numbers have become furniture showrooms or medium-sized discount stores like Ross or Home Goods. About 10 percent have become larger clothing or fashion stores, such as H&M, Forever 21, or even Sephora. About 12 percent are currently vacant; some have been other stores in between, such as the now-defunct Pier 1, while a few have been vacant ever since Borders closed. Only about 16 percent are other category killers: everything from Total Wine to Hobby Lobby to Designer Shoe Warehouse.

Perhaps surprisingly, nearly a fifth of the sample I looked at have become small-format or medium-sized supermarkets, from Aldi to Whole Foods to Fresh Market. This may herald a trend towards downsizing in supermarket spaces , which could in turn leave a raft of oversized and vacant former supermarkets to fill.

But even more surprisingly, a little more than a fifth of the former Borders spaces I looked at are no longer retail at all; their uses include studios, gyms, medical clinics or facilities, a daycare, and a coworking space. It’s clear that on the one hand, there are in fact many possibilities for these kinds of retail spaces, but on the other hand, their traditional options are dwindling.

Decades ago, Borders pioneered the new idea of category-specific superstores in the book space, transforming how Americans searched for, bought, and read books. For those who miss the concept, Barnes & Noble remains a surprisingly solid company, likely to hold on for many years to come. But in its own way, Borders remains. First the driver and then the victim of retail innovation, now its old spaces are evolving and giving us a real-time preview of a new era in the American built environment.

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Borders Closes the Book as Decisions Come Back to Haunt Chain

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• Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/borders-closes-the-book-as-decisions-come-back-to-haunt-chain

On Thursday, representatives of the Borders bookstore chain were in court with a plan to liquidate its remaining 399 locations as early as Friday. Jeffrey Brown discusses what's next for bookstores, the publishing industry and bookworms with Slate's Annie Lowrey.

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Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

JEFFREY BROWN:

Next, the last chapter for one of the country's biggest bookstore chains.

For Borders, it is, yes, the end of the story. In February, the book chain filed for bankruptcy, hoping to reorganize and stay in business. But, today, its representatives were in court with a plan to liquidate its remaining 399 stores beginning as early as tomorrow. More than 10,000 employees will lose their jobs as a result.

Getting the news today, it is upsetting. We tried. We tried. We gave it our best.

And customers will lose one more place to peruse new books.

I mean, I used to have this Sunday routine where I would go every Sunday and look at all the authors and then have a coffee and maybe read some magazines. And I won't have that little routine anymore.

From humble beginnings — the first Borders, a used bookstore, opened in Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1971 — the company became a pioneer of the big-box bookseller concept.

At its peak in 2003, Borders had more than 1,200 stores around the country, each with thousands of new titles. The company says a host of factors led to its demise, including the turbulent economy, the move away from brick-and-mortar stores to online retailers, and the rise of e-readers, like Amazon's Kindle, Apple's iPad, and the Nook of rival Barnes & Noble.

And more on this story now from Annie Lowrey, who's followed it as a business writer for the online magazine Slate.

Welcome to you.

ANNIE LOWREY, Slate.com:

Now, part of this is, of course, about larger trends of the Internet's impact on the book business. But Borders also made its own mistakes, I guess, along the way, right?

ANNIE LOWREY:

Absolutely.

What happened?

It's not an easy climate for any retail business. It's not an easy climate for anybody who is selling books, obviously.

But Borders made some strategic mistakes. First and foremost, they had a very, very tenuous relationship with the Internet. They actually outsourced the sale of a lot of their books online from 2001 to 2008 to Amazon. And on top of that, they were very slow to come around to e-readers.

That, combined with some other strategic mistakes, having too many stores, having those stores be too expensive, ended up really hurting their business.

All right, so take that apart a little bit, first the online sales.

Now, that's clearly where a lot of the business has gone, right, in the book business?

Yes, absolutely. It's increasingly migrated on to the Web.

And so what you had was these big-box stores which they always sold themselves as a place that you could come and find any book. All of a sudden, when you could go to Amazon or any of a dozen sites and get a much bigger selection of books, you didn't need those big-box stores as much, and so they became places where you could go, you could sit, you could sip and — sit and have a cup of coffee.

But Borders also made some strategic mistakes there. They lost a Starbucks contract to Barnes & Noble, for instance, and the company just ended up being mismanaged.

But people do go to those — to the real stores to look at the real books, but increasingly then they leave and order online.

Exactly. Exactly. It's very, very hard to compete unless you are offering a very boutique experience.

And Barnes & Noble has done pretty well to take advantage of e-readers and e-books and also to make sure that its stores are places that people want to go and congregate.

Now, talk a little bit more about the e-readers. You mentioned Barnes & Noble with the Nook, of course, Amazon with the Kindle. This was an area where Borders fell way behind.

So the Nook is not as big as the Kindle, but it sells really quite well. And more so, every time that somebody buys a Nook, Barnes & Noble not only benefits from selling the Nook, but also then gets to sell e-books to that reader, so they develop a relationship over time. That reader comes back to them. And so it generates a lot of repeat business for Barnes & Noble. And that really helps them.

Where are we in the e-reader and physical book situation? Now, the e-readers have grown and grown and grown. But is there any sense of reaching an equilibrium as to the number of books that will still be sold?

Well, I don't think that you will ever see the physical book die out as a form. I think that 50 years from now, physical books will still exist and I think people will still be buying them in bookstores.

But you're going to see this migration towards e-readers and e-books, especially since there is a lot of competition in the market. Prices are going to come down. And so for consumers, it is going to make more and more sense. If you have an e-reader and you can get a book within — any book, almost, in seconds, basically, you know, in your lap, yes, that's pretty powerful. And that's a good thing for consumers.

But what do you see — well, for those who — except for those who want to go to their bookstore, right?

Sure. That's true.

And their corner bookstore is now gone.

They have fewer and fewer choices in that sense, it is true.

Now, what about the actual bookstores that are left? Particularly — you talked a little bit about Barnes & Noble, still — struggling, but still going, right?

Sure. It's absolutely still going.

And there are other national chains that are still doing well. Books-A-Million is doing well, for instance. And it seems like it might actually pick up some of Borders' pieces. Independent bookstores, it remains a difficult climate for them, but a lot of them have diversified into selling thins like coffee and alcohol and have managed to stay afloat there.

But it is a very competitive market and a very difficult market for booksellers.

And the impact of this, something we have talked about a lot here, but the impact on publishers, on authors of having a major chain like this impacting the whole business?

And I think if you are looking at the broadest trends, what this might do is help hasten the move towards e-books and e-readers. Again, another national chain has fallen apart here, and people going to be increasingly looking to making money and selling books on the Web.

And another thing, the wider economic implications here of a major chain, because Borders, of course, is often found in malls, major malls, right?

So here is a lot of malls around the country losing a kind of flagship store.

A lot of jobs have disappeared this week, more than 10,000. And if you look at some of the other big layoffs that there's been this week, it is more jobs than we made last month, absolutely. And on top of that, you are completely right. Mall vacancy rates are very, very high. For big retailers, again, the climate is just not pretty out there, regardless of what you are selling.

So there is a commercial real estate aspect to all of this.

Yes. They will be unhappy about all this.

OK, Annie Lowrey, of Slate magazine, thank you very much.

Thanks so much for having me.

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The Rise and Fall Gazette

Borders Book Shop: An Iconic Brand's Journey from Rise to Fall

With 8 lessons for today's retailers.

The Beginnings

In the realm of bookselling, Borders once held a special place in the hearts of book lovers everywhere. It was a cherished destination, known for its extensive book selection, cozy atmosphere, and inviting cafes. However, despite its initial triumph and widespread popularity, Borders eventually met an unfortunate end. This article aims to explore the factors that contributed to the fall of Borders bookstores, shedding light on the challenges presented by the digital age, mismanagement decisions, and shifting consumer preferences.

Borders Group, Inc., originally named Borders Book Shop , was founded in 1971 by brothers Tom and Louis Borders. The first store, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan , stood out from traditional bookstores of its time due to its focus on providing an extensive range of titles across various genres, friendly staff, and the innovative combination of a traditional bookstore with a cafe. This fresh approach resonated with readers, quickly catapulting the store's popularity.

Borders expanded rapidly, opening new locations across the United States. Its success stemmed from its unwavering commitment to customer service and pioneering approach to book retailing. The company introduced groundbreaking concepts such as the "inventory management system" which enabled efficient sales and inventory tracking.

In the 1990s, Borders ventured into e-commerce, launching an online platform known as Borders.com . This move not only expanded its reach but also appealed to tech-savvy customers. Additionally, strategic partnerships with music retailers and the establishment of the Borders Rewards loyalty program solidified Borders' position as a leading bookseller.

Thanks for reading The Rise and Fall Gazette! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Where it started to fall apart

Despite experiencing considerable success throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Borders encountered a series of challenges and missteps that eventually contributed to its downfall. The rise of online retail giant Amazon and the increasing popularity of e-books posed significant obstacles for traditional bookstores like Borders. Initially, Borders relied on a partnership with Amazon for its online sales, but this decision proved to be a strategic blunder as it essentially empowered its biggest competitor.

Moreover, Borders struggled to adapt to the digital revolution, making slow progress in developing its own e-book platform. Unfortunately, this delay in entering the e-book market proved to be a costly mistake, as e-books gained traction and began dominating the publishing industry.

Financial difficulties also plagued Borders due to its ambitious expansion plans and the high costs associated with maintaining large physical stores. The company accumulated substantial debt, and its financial troubles were further exacerbated by the economic downturn in 2008.

In 2011, Borders filed for bankruptcy and announced the liquidation of its remaining stores. The closure of Borders evoked sadness among book lovers and industry insiders alike, signifying the end of an era in the bookselling landscape. Countless employees lost their jobs, and numerous communities bid farewell to a cherished gathering place.

The fall of Borders offers valuable lessons for traditional retailers grappling with the challenges posed by the digital age. It underscores the importance of embracing technological advancements, recognizing shifting consumer preferences, and maintaining a competitive edge. While Borders faltered in adapting to the changing industry dynamics, its legacy lives on, reminding the retail world of the profound lessons it imparted.

Lessons from the Rise and Fall of Borders Bookstores:

1. Adapt to the Digital Revolution: Borders' downfall can be attributed, in part, to its failure to effectively adapt to the digital revolution in the book industry. The rise of e-commerce and e-books disrupted the traditional bookstore model, and Borders' slow response to these changes proved detrimental. This serves as a reminder for businesses to stay abreast of technological advancements and be willing to adapt their strategies to meet evolving customer preferences.

2. Embrace Innovation: Borders initially stood out in the bookstore landscape by introducing innovative concepts, such as extensive genre selections and comfortable reading areas. However, the company's innovation eventually stagnated, particularly in the realm of digital offerings. It is crucial for businesses to continuously innovate and explore new avenues for growth to stay relevant in a rapidly changing market.

3. Nurture Customer Loyalty: Borders' introduction of the Borders Rewards loyalty program was a smart move, fostering customer loyalty and incentivizing repeat purchases. Building strong relationships with customers is vital for sustained success. Implementing loyalty programs, personalized experiences, and excellent customer service can help foster long-term loyalty and positive word-of-mouth.

4. Strategic Partnerships: Borders initially partnered with Amazon for its online sales, but this partnership ultimately backfired as it empowered its biggest competitor. This serves as a lesson for businesses to be cautious and strategic when entering partnerships. They should carefully consider the potential impact on their competitive positioning and future growth.

5. Manage Expansion Wisely: Borders' rapid expansion and the maintenance costs of large physical stores contributed to its financial woes. While growth is important, it must be balanced with financial prudence. Businesses should carefully manage their expansion plans, considering factors such as market demand, profitability, and financial sustainability.

6. Stay Agile and Responsive: Borders' downfall illustrates the importance of agility and responsiveness in a rapidly changing market. Companies must be willing to pivot their strategies, experiment with new approaches, and swiftly respond to emerging trends and customer demands. The ability to adapt and respond effectively can be a key differentiator in the face of evolving industry dynamics.

7. Focus on Financial Stability: Borders faced significant financial challenges, worsened by its debt and the economic downturn. Businesses should prioritize financial stability, maintain a healthy balance sheet, and exercise caution when taking on debt. It is crucial to have robust financial management practices and contingency plans to weather potential economic downturns or industry disruptions.

8. Preserve the In-Store Experience: Borders' physical stores were known for their inviting atmosphere and in-store cafes. While digital advancements are essential, preserving and enhancing the unique in-store experience can be a competitive advantage. Offering a welcoming and experiential environment that encourages customers to browse, linger, and engage with products can help differentiate brick-and-mortar retailers from their online counterparts.

In summary, the rise and fall of Borders Bookstores provide valuable lessons for businesses across industries. By embracing technological advancements, fostering customer loyalty, staying innovative, managing expansion wisely, and maintaining financial stability, companies can position themselves for long-term success in a rapidly changing market.

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The death and life of a great american bookstore.

• Forty years after chain's founding, first Borders bookstore set to close Monday
• Bookstore was a haven for college town of Ann Arbor, model for other stores
• Goal of manager was to make it "best bookstore in America"
• Chain done in by challenges from technology, management issues

Ann Arbor, Michigan (CNN) -- The End.

It seems wrong to begin a story like that, doesn't it? Particularly a story about a bookstore. It should begin "In the beginning," or "Once upon a time," or "It was love at first sight."

Especially "It was love at first sight."

After 40 years in business, Borders No. 1, the company's original Ann Arbor store, is scheduled to close on Monday. By late August, posters on the windows declared, "NOTHING HELD BACK!" -- and that meant the fixtures and furniture as well. The goods -- books, but also games and puzzles and teddy bears and throw rugs -- gave off the sour tang of a picked-over flea market.

A lonely security guard stood watch; he was added just recently, an employee said, after a shoplifting incident.

Borders Rewards customers have been receiving e-mails for some time now, ever since the chain declared bankruptcy and announced it was closing its 399 remaining stores. A month ago it was "30 to 50 percent off!" Now it's "60 to 80 percent off!"

There was recently a sign taped to No. 1's front door. It said, "Now Hiring: Apply Online at Borders.com." It was serious -- the liquidators needed to hire part-time help -- but it seemed like a sick joke.

What happened to the love?

"Borders used to be chockablock with books," said Jonathan Marwil, a University of Michigan history professor and author of a history of Ann Arbor . "It has increasingly looked less like a bookstore than a bowling alley, with its wide-open spaces. Now they're selling children's dolls on the front counter. It's really pretty grim."

It was a place where employees were devoted to their jobs. They prided themselves on their knowledge of their assigned sections -- and everybody else's. It was a gathering place and community center, just up the street from the university's main campus.

"We worked when we didn't have to work because we didn't know we were working. We would go into the store when it was closed to do more work," said Sharon Gambin, who arrived for the 1982 holiday season and went on to hold several positions during a three-decade career. "That's how much we loved what we did."

It's an odd thing to mourn for a store. Mourn for the employees who have lost their jobs, yes, but the store? Just another box on the roadside. Hundreds more like it. Move it along, capitalism.

Woolworth is long gone; few were saddened at its passing. Circuit City went belly up; silence. Great downtown department stores have vanished, changed names, disappeared to that Great Retailer in the Sky. (Jacobson's, the upscale department store that once occupied Borders' East Liberty Street storefront, is but one example.) With rare exceptions -- the late Atlanta newspaper columnist Celestine Sibley once wrote a valentine, "Dear Store," to the city's now-defunct retailer, Rich's -- the public yawns.

They'll probably soon forget about Borders as well. To most of the country, it's just another big-box chain, another in a series of disappearing strip-mall storefronts. Indeed, there's an irony in its demise, for as Borders is blamed for killing off some local independents, now it has been done in by Amazon and the Internet. The circle may go 'round again: Former customers may turn to independents, if their towns have them. Or, if they rule out their local chain, maybe they'll just go back to browsing on Amazon.

A shame, because when done right, there's something about a bookstore.

It's a library, a gathering spot, a refuge, a journey. Often it's small, maybe an 800-square-foot storefront jammed into a city street. Or it's idiosyncratic: an old house or converted barn, a rambling lobby or strip-mall space. It may not even be in your neighborhood, but that's where you go.

At its best, it's crowded: sometimes with people, always with books -- books stacked to the ceiling. Books lined up in bookcases. Books spread out on tables, highlighted on platforms, displayed in twirling, 5-foot-high wire racks.

Don't know what you're looking for? That's part of the adventure. A bookstore is governed by serendipity. You walk in and the world falls away. There's no rush. It's just you and the books, these pockets of words and paper that somehow transport you to a different place.

The best bookstores have a certain feel, a certain comfort to them. They're stately but not forbidding. The employees are a mix of the young and the eccentric, college students and lifers. The front of the store features their recommendations, a little offbeat, a little intriguing. If you're looking for something specific, they know where to find it; if you don't know what you're looking for, they can be your Virgil and Beatrice , guiding you through the world.

It is a place with a soul.

For much of its 40-year history, that was Borders. Though it was a chain, with hundreds of locations around the world, during its best years it maintained the feel of a great, expansive local bookstore, the 800-foot space multiplied by 10 or 20 (and much better organized). The choices were manifold, the employees passionate, the adventure always beginning.

In some towns and cities, Borders was it.

"I find in books a comfort and a companionship, a refuge from an urgently insistent world," wrote Ann Miller in the Longmont (Colorado) Weekly about the closing of that town's Borders, its only new-book bookstore. "I am worried about the folding of bookstores like Borders and the lost opportunity for browsing. ... There was no better place for grazing the written word and for meeting the best of friends."

Joe Gable, who managed Store No. 1 from the mid-'70s to the mid-'90s, puts it more simply.

"My goal," he said, "had always been to make the Ann Arbor Borders the best bookstore in America."

'Google-y' questions

Joe Gable came for love, too.

He was a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin trying to finish his dissertation on European history. He had a girlfriend. She was attending Michigan. Gable moved to Ann Arbor.

"I figured I'd work in the bookstore while I did the research. So I got a job at Borders clerking for $2.50 an hour," he recalled. His suffer-no-fools demeanor gets edgy when discussing Borders' later problems, but it softens when talking about the early days. "I had worked for a used bookstore in Madison while I was a graduate student, and I'd always loved books and the book business. And it just happened that the book business got really interesting and (Borders) evolved. ..."

By the time Gable arrived, Borders had been in business three years. Tom and Louis Borders, the brothers behind the name, both had U of M connections -- Tom had done graduate work there, Louis undergraduate studies. They opened a bookstore, the story goes, after spending $500 on a collection of books at an estate sale. (Tom is now an investor based on Austin, Texas; Louis, who founded the dot-com firm Webvan, is based in northern California. Tom declined a request for an interview; Louis didn't return phone messages.)

Ann Arbor, the kind of college town that describes itself as "six square miles surrounded by reality," was a scruffier place then, but in the 1970s -- as today -- it was one of the best-read cities in America . After short stays in other downtown locations and a change in focus from used books to new books, the brothers moved to a two-story, 10,000-square-foot storefront -- a former men's clothing store that dated back to the 19th century -- at 303 S. State Street.

Ten-thousand square feet. To sell books. It was an astonishing amount of space. "We're talking about 1974," said Benita "Be" Kaimowitz, who began work at Borders in 1975 and eventually trained the store's personnel. "There were no big bookstores." Kaimowitz, who moved to Ann Arbor in 1970, said she "went down there and just parked myself, and waited to get an interview."

Gable arrived just before the move.

"He had a vision of what a bookstore should and actually could be," said Jeanne Joesten, who joined Borders in 1986 and has held several positions over the years.

As manager, he kept the book-loving staff on their toes, highlighted some of the more obscure corners in the store's 100,000-title stock, went through the previous day's sales. He unpacked boxes and oversaw displays. He arrived early and stayed late.

"I saw this man every single morning sweeping the walk," said Gambin.

The Borders brothers had a feel for business. In the era before personal computers, Borders kept track of every single title on three-inch-square punch cards. Inventory was deep and rich. The inventory approach, an innovation of Louis Borders, led to a separate business, Book Inventory Systems, which the company supplied to other major independent book vendors. Tom Borders oversaw the store.

But it was Gable who reveled in books.

That often meant bucking the tide, not difficult in a countercultural college town that had been a center for the antiwar movement. Borders' employees, a crew of well-educated individuals who had to pass a qualifying test, were assigned specific sections and empowered to oversee them. Everybody cleaned the store; everybody pitched in on customer service.

Take the quiz: Could you have worked at Borders?

And everyone took pride in their knowledge of literature, science, publishing and, well, knowledge.

"Pre-Google, there was a spot near the front of the store where I could stand and say out loud almost any Google-y type question, and somebody within earshot would know the answer," said Kaimowitz.

The store's staffers included Steve Adams, the king of the sci-fi section; Sven Birkerts, who went on to become a well-known essayist; and poet Keith Taylor, who now runs the creative writing program at Michigan.

The store was richly stocked with works from small presses and university publishers, and often sold more of those titles than it did best-sellers.

"We used the term 'a world-class inventory' and didn't throw that around lightly," said Robert Teicher, the company's longtime fiction buyer. Gable prized merchandising displays dependent on several copies of a specific title, not just one or two. "We not only bought them, but bought them to be displayed," Teicher said. "So they would send us two copies, and Joe would get on the phone and say, 'I need seven copies. Or 10 copies. I need to display this thing.' "

They sold, too, he added.

"We were book people," he said.

iReport: Are there deals at Borders?

Falling in the river

Sharon Gambin had been a high school guidance counselor and, thanks to budget crunches, was pink-slipped twice in short order. While awaiting a new assignment, she applied at Borders.

As a child she'd fantasized about working in a bookstore -- about owning a bookstore. She once tried to talk her father into funding a bookstore. "Just craziness," she said.

"For me to get hired was like -- the thrill. Never realizing that what was happening for me personally was, how shall I say it? I fell in the river and I got swept up. As they say, I never looked back. It was a great match."

The store, she said, had its idiosyncrasies.

The receiving room was in the basement and there was no elevator, so books were stacked atop one another and carried upstairs. Nobody wore nametags. Gable gave pride of place to store recommendations over The New York Times best-sellers all the chain stores pushed. You could smoke, and everybody did. "There were ashtrays everywhere," said Gambin.

And the staff? "Each of us was weirder than the other," said Kaimowitz.

It could be a hothouse atmosphere; Teicher can think of at least five marriages that came out of the Ann Arbor store, including his own to Gambin. There were countless relationships, too, and stolen kisses in the basement.

The employees were proud of Borders' success. They shared in the profit of the store. They had a "funky little handbook" that specified Borders would be closed seven holidays a year so employees could spend time with their families.

"We'd have Christmas parties -- Joe would go around on Christmas Eve with an envelope, come up to you and shake your hand and say 'Thank you for your hard work,' " Gambin said. "On New Year's Eve he'd bring a bottle of champagne -- he'd say, 'Gambin, go to the liquor store next door and get some champagne' -- we'd lock the door and we'd have a toast."

Ann Arbor loved it back .

"Suddenly there were thousands of serious readers in town," staffer-turned-essayist Birkerts wrote in his book, "The Gutenberg Elegies." "They thronged the aisles of the store, asked questions, placed orders. The books had an aura, an excitement about them."

When the university wanted to show off the town, it took visitors to two places: Zingerman's , a legendary deli, and Borders. Locals knew they could find obscure philosophy texts and up-to-date computer science manuals, and they shared their love with the staff.

Jeanne Joesten remembers one couple, a pair of graduate students, who wanted the complete, multivolume edition of the Oxford English Dictionary as a wedding gift. They suggested putting the OED in a wedding registry, so friends could buy it for them a volume or two at a time.

"I went to Joe with the request and he grumbled, saying 'We're going to get stuck with (an incomplete set),' but he finally said, 'It's your baby.' So I did a memo to the staff and we set it up. And customers would come in and say, 'I want to buy volume H-L of the OED' and we'd sell it to them."

'Slowly, then all at once'

By the mid-1980s, the Borders brothers were eyeing expansion. The second Borders was in Birmingham, Michigan, in Detroit's northern suburbs, about an hour's drive from Ann Arbor. Before picking the spot, Tom and Louis engaged in a study. "They spent like a year there. They'd stand on a corner of Southfield and 13½ (Mile Road), clocking cars," recalled Teicher.

If the brothers were nervous about a second store, their worries faded quickly: "We spent years trying to catch up, business was so strong," said Teicher. "That was the power and the strength and the charm of Borders. Nobody in the Detroit metro area had seen that. They used to come to Ann Arbor to buy their books."

Pretty soon the budding chain opened a third store, in Atlanta, and a fourth store, in Indianapolis. By 1992, when the Borders brothers sold the chain to Kmart for about $125 million , Borders had 21 stores.

Some analysts have called the sale the first step in Borders' decline. Teicher doesn't agree.

"The sale to Kmart was completely transparent. The product of that was deeper pockets," he said. "We accelerated the store openings, which was always fun. ... Kmart had nothing to do with the decline of Borders. There was a synergy there that was positive."

The problems began three years later, he said, when Kmart spun off the Borders division -- which now included another Kmart book retailer, Waldenbooks -- and the company went public.

"When you become a public company, you have certain obligations, and in my opinion, when those responsibilities and obligations are not managed correctly, (they) lead to what we have now."

But during the '90s, the future looked rosy . Borders grew and grew, second only to Barnes & Noble. There was a Borders in Singapore. There was a Borders in the World Trade Center. The stock price flew high. At its peak there were more than 1,200 Borders and Waldenbooks stores, employing more than 30,000 people. Where did it go wrong?

Ask someone for the reason Borders went under and they'll give you a list. There was the Kmart deal and aftermath. There was the Borders Rewards program, which was offered free to customers, giving them little incentive to use it -- unlike B&N's plan, which charged a fee. Others point to the decision to sell CDs, which backfired when the music technology changed to downloads.

In fact, new technology began haunting the once-cutting-edge store. In 1998, Borders created a website but three years later handed its online business to Amazon; by the time Borders decided to reclaim its web presence in 2008, it had fallen far behind its competitors. Borders also was late to e-book readers, finally partnering with a Canadian company for its Kobo reader -- well after Amazon's Kindle and B&N's Nook took over the market.

Then there were misguided investments, overbuilding, personnel turnover. As Hemingway once wrote about a man going broke, it happened "slowly, then all at once."

"When Borders expanded, they brought in executives from supermarkets and department stores (all of whom insisted they were readers), and the result was a shuffle of titles and more downsizing against a backdrop of financial engineering, which only seemed to make matters worse," Public Affairs founder Peter Osnos wrote in The Atlantic .

For Gable, who moved to corporate in 1996 as a senior project manager and still witheringly refers to the executives as "the grocery guys," it was one frustration after another. At one point, he said, Borders spent millions renovating stores and then decided to create a model for the "store of the future," with different fixtures and carpeting -- none of which, according to Gable, could be retrofitted to Borders' 500 stores.

"They spend millions developing this stupid ('store of the future') and then six months later they pull the plug on it," he said. "So picture the money just pouring out. Then they get a new guy in. I say, 'What do we need?' (He says,) 'We need a new idea for a store.' 'Well, what could that possibly be?' 'Let's call it "the concept store." ' Let's have more consultants, and let's develop totally different fixtures -- metal fixtures -- and let's have a different layout, this time instead of a racetrack, people will find things by bumping into them!"

In other words, another "store of the future."

Meanwhile, the core of Borders' business, the focus on customer service and selection, had fallen by the wayside.

"You see the devolution here," said Teicher.

"Not only did they not pay attention to the selection," Gable noted, "they continued to downgrade the selection by emphasizing in its place things that were nonbook items. The point was that Borders was completely indistinguishable from B&N and the competition. The books that you could buy at Borders you could buy at Costco -- cheaper."

The customers, he said, knew it. Locals had always been sensitive about even the smallest changes -- Gambin remembers the horrified reaction when the Ann Arbor store switched from paper to plastic bags -- but the changes in philosophy were too much.

"A woman came up to me on the street a number of years after I left the (first) store, and she said, 'I have something to confess to you,' " Gable said. " 'You know I was a loyal Borders customer for over 20 years. I wouldn't even think of going anyplace else. I will never again go to Borders. ... It used to be I was able to find what I want, and if I couldn't find it myself someone would help find it for me. Now I go in there, and not only do they have this (nonbook) stuff, but nobody knows if you have the book or not.'

"The problem with the new guys," Gable concluded, "is they tried to take the book business, which is complex and boring, and make it simple and sexy."

'The treasure hunt'

The book business has never been easy. For a long time it was a relatively low-profit gentleman's game. Independents have often struggled; until the megastore trend, chains generally stocked a limited number of titles and focused on best-sellers. (Today's megastores still focus on the big names, giving The New York Times' best-seller list more play than Joe Gable would have liked.) It has remained a niche business. Even Amazon.com, which looms large over the industry, quickly started diversifying away from the book sales it was founded on; its recent commerce has been largely driven by electronics and general merchandise .

Fred Bass, president of New York's venerable Strand Bookstore , the used-book emporium founded in 1927, knows the challenges. When the Strand opened, it was among dozens of bookshops along Manhattan's Fourth Avenue, known as "Book Row." Now, in its location nearby at 828 Broadway, it's the only one left.

The Strand has survived by being creative. It has a thriving market in art books and advance editions. It has a strong presence on the Internet. During Borders' liquidation, the Strand reached out to Borders Rewards customers, honoring their discounts. After years coping with rent hikes and changing demographics, the store bought the building.

Bass still works the floor, a stocky man wearing a protective back brace and bold name tag, ready to answer questions from customers. That personal touch is the key, says his daughter and co-owner, Nancy Bass Wyden.

"People want the tactile experience. They want the treasure hunt," she said.

"You try to keep some of the mystique of the old bookstore, but adapt," added Bass.

Indeed, bookstores today are dealing with challenges from technology and distribution, much like the music and newspaper businesses. They face competition from e-books, retailers such as Target and Walmart, and a variety of entertainment options unheard-of when the first Borders opened in 1971.

"Part of the problem is the activity of buying a book has become deculturalized. I can walk 10 minutes down the road from my office and buy the latest hardcover James Patterson book at (the supermarket) Stop & Shop," said publishing industry analyst Michael Norris of Simba Information. "Over the past 10 or so years, there are about 1,000 fewer chain bookstores, but 1,000 more Walmarts and Targets. And the Walmarts and Targets have no stake in the future of books."

Bookstore: A love story

For those who know No. 1, its demise is a knife to the heart.

Sharon Gambin, who had risen to No. 1's human resources manager and had the company catechism down pat, recalls a key incident with emotion.

"A few years ago, my heart was broken," she recalled. "They hired a man, who was a Borders GM, and gave him, the poor soul, the task of making Store 1 like every other store in the system."

Her voice breaks. "From that time, I went through a period of (asking), 'What am I doing?' "

No. 1 is breathing its last. As August drifted into September, there were still plenty of books -- indeed, more now that the store was in liquidation than there were a few months ago -- but the titles are a strange mix. Some two dozen copies of Hilary Duff's "Elixir," a young adult novel, lined one shelf. Other bookcases included a guide to Ibsen, a Holocaust memoir, several copies of a Denis Leary rant and countless romance novels.

Brian McDonald and Joshua Fireman, two U of M undergraduates, went through the sci-fi section with equal parts glee and sadness. They weren't born when Borders was founded, weren't alive when it started expanding, yet they knew it as well as any old-timer.

"I remember coming here from elementary school," says McDonald, an area native.

"It's sad," agrees Fireman, who also grew up in southeast Michigan. "I'm buying as many books while I can."

Ann Arbor will survive. Downtown is thriving, an eclectic and walkable mix of shops and restaurants. Thanks to the university, a highly regarded hospital system and proximity to metro Detroit's auto and engineering firms, the city remains a sturdy blend of small business owners, free spirits and intellectuals. It has generally weathered the worst of Michigan's economic downturn, and a prime 40,000-square-foot spot is sure to have takers.

"We'll bounce back OK," said Diane Keller, president of the local chamber of commerce.

Still, she can't help but lament Borders' closing: "It was a warm place to go. It felt like your Borders."

"I think there is a sense of loss," said Marwil, the U of M history professor and author. "Given what's happening to the whole book trade, I don't think there has been quite the investment emotionally. If Borders had collapsed in 1998 there would have been a real sense of grieving. This is like the shoe dropping. And Borders had lost a quality of individuality. But still ... you can't help but feel twinges of what was."

Soon, Borders will join other names -- Booksellers in Cleveland, Oxford in Atlanta, Kroch's in Chicago, Scribner's in New York -- as ex-bookstores, their storefronts left as empty as desanctified churches. There is still a market for distinctive, customer-centric bookstores -- Ann Arbor has Nicola's about two miles from downtown -- but they're harder to come by nowadays.

"I think that the national chain store model will have some kind of future, but in order to be successful they can't have a cookie-cutter approach for their retail locations," said industry analyst Norris. "There has to be something for local books and local authors other than a 2-foot-by-2-foot card table on the second floor. The stores should have a personality."

Gable has wiped his hands of it. He's been gone now for three years. He recently stopped by No. 1 and left feeling "bitter and angry." "The loss to book lovers is probably irreparable," he told CNN in an e-mail.

Gambin prefers to remember better times and a wealth of colleagues. It wasn't so long ago, she says, that the growing company was still filled with people who had roots at No. 1, friends who had started in the basement and had suddenly found themselves on top of the world.

More recently, she says, she tried to focus on the "books and the people" -- she repeats the phrase twice, like a mantra -- "so I could transcend the rest of the crap."

"But I grieved for many years and was angry for many years," she said.

And then came the day a year or two ago when she thought she couldn't do it anymore. She got a part-time job at a local college. Still, she couldn't leave Borders behind, working part-time. She's remained during the liquidation, helping out to the end.

Gambin is 64 now. She has spent almost half her life at Borders. She struggles to put a career, a business, a love in context.

"You're married to something and one day you wake up and it's a different person or something's different about them, and you keep hoping the good parts are going to come back," she said.

So let's try this again.

Once upon a time ...

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Watch CBS News

Last Borders Shoppers Wistful, Looking For Deals

September 18, 2011 / 2:11 PM EDT / CBS New York

NEW YORK (AP) -- The scene this weekend at the last of the remaining Borders bookstores to close was more like a memorial service than a funeral. Shoppers reminisced fondly about their beloved bookseller rather than grieve its loss.

Amid upbeat jazz music and large red-and-yellow signs announcing the "Final Days" of the Borders in Queens in New York City, customers snagged deals on used chairs and coffee machines. At a Borders in Cincinnati, readers were eager to grab book titles for up to 90 percent off. And signs at a Borders in Cambridge, Mass., implored shoppers to haggle: "No Reasonable Offer Refused."

"I find it really sad," said Victoria Florea, 49, who was looking for discounts this weekend at the Cambridge store so she could use her $50 gift card before it closes. "I'm glad to get these bargains, but I'm sad at the same time."

Borders, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based chain that pioneered the big-box bookselling concept and grew to 1,249 stores at its peak in 2003, will cease to exist by the end of the day on Sunday. It's a victim of a shift in the industry brought on by customers who'd much rather read their favorite titles on an electronic book or tablet computer than turn the page on a paperback. The chain's demise is expected to have wide-reaching effects on everyone from authors and publishers who will have to find new ways to market their work to competitors like Barnes & Noble that will benefit from losing a big rival.

"The absence of Borders is going to be felt across the industry," said Michael Norris, a Simba Information senior trade analyst. "The loss of the `showroom' effect of bookstores is not going to be replaced anytime soon."

Started in 1971, Borders grew to become a giant in the industry, operating Borders and Waldenbooks bookstores. But the company failed to adapt quickly to the changing industry and lost sales to the Internet, discounters and other competition. It filed for bankruptcy protection in February and has since shuttered stores and laid off thousands of employees. Borders began liquidating its remaining 399 stores in July when a $215 million "white knight" bid by a private-equity firm dissolved under objections from creditors and lenders who argued the chain would be worth more if it were liquidated immediately.

A few vestiges of Borders will remain. Books-A-Million is taking over 14 stores. And bidders including Barnes & Noble and Malaysian company Berjaya Books (which operated some Borders in Malaysia) will take over $15.8 million in Borders' intellectual property. That includes trademarks; the Borders, Waldenbooks and Brentano's trade names; Internet domain names; and the Borders.com e-commerce website.

That's little solace to some shoppers who were taking advantage of the deals at the remaining Borders stores this weekend. Many wondered where they would shop once the chain disappears -- even though many of them already are migrating to online booksellers and discount chains.

Steve Mannix on Friday carried out 10 books and two magazines for $11.79 total at the Waldenbooks store in Cincinnati's Western Hills neighborhood. Most of the books were graphic novels about vampires, super-heroes and Japanese characters. He said he had been interested in the artwork and stories in graphic novels, but didn't want to pay $20 for one book.

"It's sad," he said, loading the books into the trunk of his car. "I used to come to this store all the time."

Still, Mannix said he reads online and buys most of his books at a Half Price Books discount bookstore, which he says saves him a lot of money. "They really priced themselves out of business," he said of the Waldenbooks store.

At the Queens store in The Shops at Atlas Park in Glendale, half a dozen shoppers milled around scantily filled shelves. Signs touting up to 90 percent off books and 50 percent off fixtures peppered Borders' large glass windows. A wooden sign showed photos of fixtures like coffee machines, lockers and chairs - all marked sold. A bright red display shelf stood empty and abandoned. Sale price: $100.

"What a shame," said Marcin Machula, 40, a trainer from Queens who was in the store over the weekend. He said he has been coming to the Glendale Borders once a month for years to have a cup of coffee and look for books on sports performance. "This place is going to be missed."

At the Borders in CambridgeSide Galleria mall in Cambridge, Mass., Mary Jane Diodati, a lawyer on disability, also pondered the end of an era.

"I really like the camaraderie and the peace of just being in a book store -- it is different from a library, in my opinion," she said.

Were you a Borders bookstore shopper? Where will you go now--Barnes & Noble or local shops? Tell us your thoughts in our comments section below.

---- (Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Borders Group, Inc., is a publicly held company with 2008 consolidated sales of $3.2 billion. Our stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BGP. Borders Group operates over 515 Borders superstores in the U.S.; three stores in Puerto Rico; and approximately 377 stores in the Waldenbooks Specialty Retail segment, including Waldenbooks, Borders Express, Borders airport stores, and Borders Outlet. Borders Group owns London-based Paperchase Products Limited, a retailer of stationery, cards and gifts with 124 locations outside the U.S., including stand-alone stores and concessions. There are also 337 Paperchase shops located within U.S… more

About this location: Whether a year round local resident, snowbird returning north for a visit or summer tourist season visitor, Borders Hyannis has something to offer you.  We invite you to browse our extensive book selection–including a collection of books about Cape Cod and the Islands as well other books by local authors.  Throughout the year we feature an ongoing program of Children’s events as well as book signings by local authors.  While you’re here you can listen to samples from thousands of CDs in our digital music system and browse through our DVD section, featuring traditional format DVDs as well as Blu-Ray format DVDs… more

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• Ages 08-10 (Middle Readers)
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• The Champion
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• accepting others
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From celebrated Indigenous author Thomas King and award-winning Métis artist Natasha Donovan comes a powerful graphic novel about a family caught between nations.

Borders  is a masterfully told story of a boy and his mother whose road trip is thwarted at the border when they identify their citizenship as Blackfoot. Refusing to identify as either American or Canadian first bars their entry into the US, and then their return into Canada. In the limbo between countries, they find power in their connection to their identity and to each other.

Borders explores nationhood from an Indigenous perspective and resonates deeply with themes of identity, justice, and belonging.---from the publisher

192 pages                          978-0316593069                    Ages 8-12

Keywords:   graphic novel, indigenous people, belonging, identity, respecting others, journey, hope, family, mothers/sons, courage, 8 year old, 9 year old 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old, Indigenous author, justice, Social Studies Curriculum, diversity, diverse books, acceptance, accepting others, social issues, social conditions

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Borders (Graphic Novel)

From celebrated Indigenous author Thomas King and award-winning Métis artist Natasha Donovan comes a powerful graphic novel about a family caught between nations.

Borders  is a masterfully told story of a boy and his mother whose road trip is thwarted at the border when they identify their citizenship as Blackfoot. Refusing to identify as either American or Canadian first bars their entry into the US, and then their return into Canada. In the limbo between countries, they find power in their connection to their identity and to each other. 

Borders  explores nationhood from an Indigenous perspective and resonates deeply with themes of identity, justice, and belonging.

Reviews " Borders is a graphic novel adaptation of one of Thomas King’s short stories exploring identity and belonging themes. This story highlights the significance of a nation’s physical border versus that of an Indigenous perspective. It follows a boy and his mother being asked a question about citizenship and the limbo between nations." - The Dalai Lama Center

Educator Information Recommended for ages 10 to 14.

Additional Information 192 pages | 6.00" x 9.00" | Paperback

Strong Nations Publishing

2595 McCullough Rd Nanaimo, BC, Canada, V9S 4M9 Phone: (250) 758-4287 Email: [email protected]

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Updated: borders book store to close, peabody store one of more than 200 that will be shuttered after parent company files for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection..

Robert Cook , Patch Staff

The book store located on Route 114 will be one of nearly 200 to close in the next two- to three months after the parent company, Borders Group Inc ., filed for bankruptcy today.

An employee at the Peabody book store who did not wish to be identified said she and her fellow 33 part-time and full-time employees were told today the store will close in the next 60- to 90 days.  The store could close as soon as April. The move to file for bankruptcy protection by Border's was expected for months in the face of sagging sales and the company's inability to compete in the e-book market.

According to information released by the company , Massachusetts stores in Boston, Burlington, Holyoke, Hyannis and Wareham will also be closed. The Border's store in Dedham will remain open.

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An Associated Press story published by the Huffington Post on Friday speculated that Borders has struggled with losses for years in the face of a changing book industry. The company reported sales at its namesake superstores open at least a year were down 14.6 percent for the crucial holiday period this year.

The AP story reported that Borders also struggled to compete in the e-book market and its Kobo product that it rolled out last year did not change it fortunes. Borders' chief rival, Barnes & Noble, introduced the Nook reader in 2009 as Amazon.com's Kindle reader continues to dominate the e-reader market.

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An international student adviser greets Cornellians arriving at the Ithaca airport from Liberia, India, and the Philippines in the early 1960s. (Rare and Manuscript Collections)

• Storytime with Corey

New Book Chronicles Cornell’s International Impact

In Beyond Borders , more than four dozen authors contribute to an overview of the University’s ‘global dimensions’

By Corey Ryan Earle ’07

If you think traveling to Ithaca is difficult today, imagine sailing across the ocean 150 years ago, your belongings packed into a steamer trunk, anxiously anticipating enrolling at a new university in a country that you’ve never visited before.

When Cornell opened its doors in 1868, students and faculty had already begun to travel from overseas to participate in this grand educational experiment where, as Ezra proclaimed, truly “any person can find instruction in any study.”

In the century and a half since the first international Cornellians set foot on campus, the University has had an enormous impact across the planet. Today, it leads teaching, research, and outreach efforts that span countries and continents, and its community is as global as it has ever been.

Now, for the first time, the breadth and depth of this international footprint has been chronicled in a book: Beyond Borders: Exploring the History of Cornell’s Global Dimensions , published in association with Cornell University Press and with support from Cornell Academics & Professors Emeriti .

The project was the vision of Royal Colle, PhD ’67, professor emeritus of communication, who began collecting stories about Cornell’s international involvement two decades ago.

Colle’s academic career involved research and extension around the world, partnering with agencies like the Ford Foundation, World Bank, and World Health Organization.

Recognizing that much of Cornell’s international work had not been documented in previous books about the University, Colle recruited a team of editors to help bring the project to fruition: Heike Michelsen, former director of programming at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies ; Elaine Deutsch Engst, MA ’72, university archivist emerita and former director of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections ; and myself.

After nearly three years of production, the book comprises 58 chapters about aspects of Cornell’s global dimensions.

Its 54 authors include many faculty and staff who played direct roles in those endeavors.

The editorial team sought stories representing a wide range of disciplines, regions, and cultures, while also documenting the history of institutional programs and services like Education Abroad , the Holland International Living Center , and Cornell in Rome , to name a few.

The editorial team sought stories representing a wide range of disciplines, regions, and cultures.

While comprehensiveness is impossible with a book of this nature, even the most knowledgeable Cornellian will learn something new in each chapter. To whet your appetite, here are just a few anecdotes:

• From 1924–31, Cornell collaborated with China’s University of Nanking (now Nanjing) in what has been called the “first notable example of international technical cooperation in agriculture,” resulting in the development of better varieties of wheat, barley, rice, and other crops.

• Geology professor Charles Hartt recruited so many Brazilian students in the 1870s that they formed the University’s first international student group, Club Brasileiro, which also published a Portuguese newsletter .

• Generations of students have had life-changing opportunities through the long-running course International Agriculture in Developing Nations (established in 1968) and its trips around the world.

While comprehensiveness is impossible with a book of this nature, even the most knowledgeable Cornellian will learn something new in each chapter.

• Cornell was a pioneer in language instruction, creating a Division of Modern Languages in the 1940s and helping popularize a teaching method that focused on conversation, taught by linguists and native speakers (with reading and writing considered secondary).

• By 2021, more than 65,000 farms in Bangladesh were growing Bt brinjal , a bioengineered, pest-resistant eggplant developed and commercialized thanks to a Cornell-led consortium.

• Home economics pioneer Flora Rose led an extensive field survey focused on nutrition in Belgian children after World War I, paving the way for future research and extension efforts in international nutrition.

• As an undergraduate, Hu Shih 1914 (namesake of a new residence hall), organized a group of Chinese students to donate Chinese-language books to the library, strengthening its world-class Asia collections.

Cornell was a pioneer in language instruction, helping popularize a teaching method that focused on conversation.

• In the first year of the University’s formal study abroad program (1985–86), 259 students did so for at least a semester, nearly tripling the 88 of the previous year.

• In 1933, Cornell became the first U.S. college or university to dedicate a staff member to working with international students (then numbering about 175). That staffer’s father, John Mott 1888, remains the only Cornellian to win the Nobel Peace Prize .

Beyond Borders is available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book form. It can be purchased from the publisher and at online retailers such as Amazon , or can be ordered through your local bookstore. Several of its editors will attend the annual Reunion Book Signing at the Cornell Store.

Top: An international student adviser greets Cornellians arriving at the Ithaca airport from Liberia, India, and the Philippines in the early 1960s. (Rare and Manuscript Collections)

Published May 21, 2024

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