Borders trouble, could lead to BIG TROUBLE!
- Thread starter gamerprinter
- Start date
I can confirm that the report above is accurate. Diamond has halted shipments to Borders. As I understand it a lot of the big New York publishers (or, rather, their lawyers and accountants) were in a series of meetings with Borders management today that will likely decide the fate of the company. I'd pay a lot of attention to Publisher's Weekly tomorrow for any fallout of that meeting.
As the issue (in this case) is primarily between Diamond and Borders, Diamond made its own decisions about how to proceed. I am hopeful that a solution can be found that satisfies Borders, distributors, and publishers, but this is not a surprise to anyone in any part of the publishing industry, and folks have been planning accordingly for a while. There have been rumors about a Borders collapse being imminent for at least 2-3 years, at this point.
I'm not saying that it's going to be easy for publishers and distributors if Borders goes under, but we have looked at our finances and our exposure and we're confident that even in the worst-case scenario we will be able to weather that storm.
--Erik
As the issue (in this case) is primarily between Diamond and Borders, Diamond made its own decisions about how to proceed. I am hopeful that a solution can be found that satisfies Borders, distributors, and publishers, but this is not a surprise to anyone in any part of the publishing industry, and folks have been planning accordingly for a while. There have been rumors about a Borders collapse being imminent for at least 2-3 years, at this point.
I'm not saying that it's going to be easy for publishers and distributors if Borders goes under, but we have looked at our finances and our exposure and we're confident that even in the worst-case scenario we will be able to weather that storm.
--Erik
Thanks Erik. I wonder if this event with Diamond also has something to do with recent WotC changes in gears and things that have been happening since they also carry WotC products, although probably not the only one, but Diamond are among the bigger comic book distributors that LGS's rely on aside from Alliance, if they are still around. HASBRO I am sure has other avenue, but shifts in Diamond decisions have caused waves for more than one business in the past.
Diamond does not represent Wizards of the Coast to the book trade (or to anyone, so far as I am aware), so I don't think this has anything to do with anything related to Wizards of the Coast.
I mean, their book trade distributor has a LOT more business with Borders (and a lot more pull) than most, and I'd guess representatives from that outfit are in on some of the closed-door meetings with Borders I mentioned above. But they also cover a LOT more than just WotC, so who knows?
--Erik
I mean, their book trade distributor has a LOT more business with Borders (and a lot more pull) than most, and I'd guess representatives from that outfit are in on some of the closed-door meetings with Borders I mentioned above. But they also cover a LOT more than just WotC, so who knows?
--Erik
Jared Rascher
Explorer
I was an In-Store Marketing Manager (its sounds awesome, but it meant I was in charge of the sign and display crew) at Sears when we heard that K-Mart was buying us.
"You mean the K-Mart that just had to close half of their stores?"
"That's the one."
That was one of the many factors that got me to leave retail.
Turjan
Explorer
These messages don't surprise me at all. During most of December, Borders behaved in an obviously desperate way, and I was expecting them to implode every day. I think I used three 50% off coupons during that month, plus some 40% off and 33% off. I even got the Borders Plus membership ($20) for an additional 10% off, because they gave me $10 in Borders bucks beforehand and another $10 afterwards, which made it basically free. I got additional Borders bucks from the stuff I bought.
You know, when I stood there in line, again buying stuff with $30 MSRP for something like $4.50, I asked myself where they were actually making any money on this whole scheme. As I said, it looked completely desperate. I made sure to use up all my gift cards.
Let's hope that the fallout of their demise won't be too devastating.
You know, when I stood there in line, again buying stuff with $30 MSRP for something like $4.50, I asked myself where they were actually making any money on this whole scheme. As I said, it looked completely desperate. I made sure to use up all my gift cards.
Let's hope that the fallout of their demise won't be too devastating.
GreyLord
Legend
Everyone can stop worrying about WotC. There's a BIGGER chance of Hasbro doing something to WotC over how 4e is doing (good or bad depending on how you see it) and the direction of D&D then this putting WotC under.
WotC is only a SMALL portion of Hasbro...and it would take a LOT more than Borders going under to cause Hasbro to have problems.
IMO.
WotC is only a SMALL portion of Hasbro...and it would take a LOT more than Borders going under to cause Hasbro to have problems.
IMO.
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