HOW BORDERS LOST ITS SOUL | Perich Advertising + Design

HOW BORDERS LOST ITS SOUL

By Ernie Perich

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I remember a day not too long ago when people were proud to say these words: “I went to Borders for lunch.” Said something positive about them. It was the intellectual version of saying “I worked out for an hour at lunch.” Then came Kmart, and the beginning of the end of a great brand. Then comes about 20 people making millions of dollars for spearheading the brand into a downward spiral. For not recognizing Amazon for what it meant to the selling of books. For not realizing that digital music would hammer CDs. For acting like a “big box” retailer instead of an iconic brand. For sticking its nose in the air and being so arrogant that it didn’t need to advertise because ”our store is our advertising.”

For losing its soul inch by inch and minute by minute. So fast forward about a decade or so and here’s the most recent quite I heard about my beloved Borders: “Oh, I never buy anything from Borders without one of those 40% off coupons. Why would I?”

Those once proud to be seen walking the streets of their Ann Arbor neighborhood with a canvas-branded Borders book bag have replaced that with the same mentality they use to buy toilet paper. So sad.