Borders trouble, could lead to BIG TROUBLE!

gamerprinter · Jan 4, 2011

There's a scary thread over on RPG.net discussing the potential fall of Borders, and how it could affect the entire RPG industry...

Here's the link to the thread on RPG.net
Borders Troubles...

Basically Borders is heading towards bankruptcy, and ramifactions of unpaid sales to publishers, or at least to the distributor could mean big trouble for WotC, Paizo, FFG. If sales had gone through Publishing Services Inc. as the distributor, it could lessen the effect on publishers, or could bring the distributor down as well and effect the whole industry.

I'm not reposting the numbers from the RPG.net thread, as they are guesses at best, and I'm not a numbers guy.

It is potentially a multi-million dollar hit on WotC, and over $100 K for Paizo, if the numbers are anything close to those mentioned in that thread.

No matter what the outcome - this seems like a very scary scenario.

Thoughts?

Krensky · Jan 4, 2011

Borders has been circling the drain for a while.

Basically their competent management left after Kmart bought them in 1992. Kmart merged the successful Borders with not quite as successful Waldenbooks, then spun them off.

Really, it's been obvious for the past decade or so. One of the primary symptoms is that they hadn't updated any of their POS or back office systems since the mid-nineties. They just started refreshing these systems last year. I know one other national chain in the same condition, Blockbuster.

Bad management, late movement into online sales, ancillary sales, and electronic media doomed them.

Dice4Hire · Jan 4, 2011

Not good news at all.

Dannyalcatraz · Jan 4, 2011

I've been raising this particular spectre in the online sellers vs B&M stores struggle for some time now...sad to see possible confirmation.

Borders, B&N and Best Buy are almost the only big name stores I shop in, but each has been offering less and less of what I was looking for: CDs (esp. Metal & Jazz), BBC mystery series DVDs, a deep & broad selection of sci-fi/fantasy/horror novels and guitar & jewlrymaking magazines to name but a few.

Relique du Madde · Jan 4, 2011

Dannyalcatraz said:
B&N

I personally think that when Barnes and Noble dies it'll crush WoTC considering that 80-90% of the already dwindling RPG stock in all the local B&N stores have WoTC labels on them. Of course, on that day millions of Manga readers will suddenly cry out in terror when they discover that no self respecting Comic Book store stocks the amount of manga that B&N would.

Dannyalcatraz · Jan 4, 2011

OTOH, if people decide to become social again, you could see the resurgence of the local book (and hobby) stores.

One sign of this: despite the hardships of the big chains, I've noticed several small stores expanding.

BryonD · Jan 4, 2011

Relique du Madde said:
I personally think that when Barnes and Noble dies it'll crush WoTC considering that 80-90% of the already dwindling RPG stock in all the local B&N stores have WoTC labels on them.

Being the majority of B&N's inventory does not make it anywhere near a majority of WotC's cash flow.

As long as there are other avenues for gamers to acquire product (and there are) this really won't have any impact on the on-going value of the D&D brand, or any other brand.

I can't make any presumptions about the amount of money that actually may be defaulted. (assumption on assumption there already) But the thread linked does seem to make some high assumptions and then declare them minumum.

But the "scary" part is whether or not a company can withstand the hit. I'm rather confident that WotC/Hasbro can withstand the hit. To be clear, I'm not being cavalier and just saying, "they got the money, no big deal". If true, it would hurt a lot and could certainly impact the short term production. But it is nothing close to crushing.

Smaller companies may find themselves unable to move forward no matter how valuable their brand. But, again, smaller companies have a lot less on B&N shelves also. Failures happen. They are bad, they hurt, they do real harm. But it is way premature to predict doom.

Umbran · Jan 4, 2011

Dannyalcatraz said:
One sign of this: despite the hardships of the big chains, I've noticed several small stores expanding.

I haven't yet seen this, but I'd hope for some such effect: the death of big stores might allow small stores to effectively fill the gap. There is one thing online retailers still cannot duplicate: the browsing experience, which seems pretty key to avid readers. If I didn't have a B&N and a Borders nearby, I'd seek out a small store for that experience.

BryonD said:
As long as there are other avenues for gamers to acquire product (and there are) this really won't have any impact on the on-going value of the D&D brand, or any other brand.

That may not be entirely true. I don't think we out here know the value of such stores to the marketing of D&D. Note I said marketing, not sales. Having books on shelves where people can look at them is probably notably valuable in getting the product to move.

Joshua Randall · Jan 4, 2011

Imminent death of RPGs predicted. News at 11:00.

This is certainly bad (esp. for Borders employees), but creative destruction is how capitalism works.

CleverNickName · Jan 4, 2011

This makes me sad.

One of my earliest memories of my D&D hobby was saving up my allowance and going to the Waldenbooks in Sooner Fashion Mall. I would pick up the latest copy of Dragon Magazine, and drool over the Companion Rules Boxed Set that someday, someday I would be able to afford. (Sadly, it went out of print before I could afford it. But not-so-sadly, the Rules Cyclopedia came out soon afterward, and it is hands-down the best D&D book I've ever bought.)

Sure, there were smaller gaming and hobby stores in Norman, Oklahoma, but they were hard for a 12-year old boy to get to. I could always get a ride to the mall, but getting a ride down Lindsay Blvd. to Arpegee's was a lot harder to arrange. By the time I could drive, all of the FLGSs had gone out of business or moved to Oklahoma City.

So growing up, I had to depend on the "big bookstores" to support my hobby. And seeing them all drop away, one by one, sort of tugs at my heartstrings.