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When we look back at the recorded-music business of early 2009, one of the things it will be notable for is the dramatic markdown of product thanks to the bottom falling out of, well, pretty much everything related to the selling of physical discs. Liquidation sales at the bankrupt Circuit City and the gradual wind-down of both New York City Virgin Megastores (the Union Square one hasn’t announced a closing date yet, but reports have been trickling in about big markdowns) are just the beginning; now, Borders is planning on slashing its music (and DVD) inventory by 70%. Which means big discounts for you—and hey, they may be some of the last firesales on physical product ever, so get shopping while you still can!
According to sources, Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Borders – which has been annually and significantly reducing its music SKU count from an average of 50,000 titles in 2000 to 11,500 SKUs at the end of 2007 – plans on reducing its music and DVD inventory by 70% over the next three-months, and it will affect nearly 97% of the chain’s 515 superstores. It began with a “30%-off sales in 70 of its stores on Monday, with the rest of the chain’s stores implementing an inventory sell downs in mid-March.
For music, the chain plans to continue carrying a full assortment – about 9,500 titles – in 14 stores, while another 135 stores will decrease its inventory to about 7,000 titles per store. The remainder of the chain will see their inventory reduced significantly: about 150 stores will only carry the top 25 music titles; while another 100 stores, will carry about 500 titles; and another 115 stores will be reduced to about 3,000 titles.
Of course, this projection is based on the assumption that the 514-ish stores outlined here will stay open in the coming months, which may be a bit far-fetched. But Borders, which still does have “music” in its name for now, having Wal-Mart-sized inventories of music can’t be comforting to anyone invested in the selling of discs—especially new artists, and the people who want to break them.
Borders To Shrink Music Shelf Space [Billboard; HT Coolfer]
Sad! My local Borders had an excellent music staff with great diverse tastes. They put a lot of time and effort into their displays and I could always find something they recommended that I’d never heard of before.
Of course, I’d usually haul ass back to the computer to find the album for 1/3 of the price online, but hey….I bought their chai sometimes!
I used to spend hours at Borders between reading the music magazines and listening to albums at the listening stations.
@Prefixmag: and drinking coffee!
I was at the Virgin Megastore the other day and picked up the first Strokes album for $5.
Borders sux. Almost bought that Cut Copy cd there last year on a whim. Downloaded it instead. Glad i did. Reheated New Order, not so much my thing.
Aww…you mean people don’t like to buy music at prices above the price point set for it? That 30% discount is way more like a 15% from what it should have been.
@eriq78: How is that Borders’ fault, moron?
@BillyChance: damn! start calling names, really sweet.
ok, my point – Borders only carries sucky mainstream middle of the road cds. for the one time i’m stuck there and see something that is slightly out of the mainstream, ironically i download it and still don’t like the cd. i’m spoiled, i have amoeba, and other real music stores to shop at. sure not everyone does. but do serious music fans really shop at borders? do serious music fans defend borders? it’s the same as walmart to me.
lick it, ass clown.
@eriq78: Sigh. This isn’t Stereogum.
Yes, worth defending. When my Borders wipes out an entire floor’s worth of disks, then, yes, its loss means something. Even if I typically shopped online or at the much smaller independent record shop down the street and just wandered through Borders to see what they had.
The percentage of the US population who lives within 20 minutes of Borders is considerably higher than than the percentage who lives within 20 minutes of Amoeba.
@eriq78: can you please not get into personal attacks? that includes the ‘ass clown’ (who are you, chris jericho?) and the indier-than-thou ridiculousness. consider this a formal warning.
i bought the marine girls’ ‘lazy ways/beach party’ at a borders in evanston, illinois long ago. its selection used to be really wide — it had 50,000 titles available not even 10 years ago! surely something to please your oh-so-demanding palate was in there.
and yeah, what SAShepherd said. more people *do* live near a borders. and the fact that options for many people to purchase music in the way that they’re used to doing are dwindling more and more by the minute is fucked up, and stunting some peoples’ ability to get into music.
And they have books there too!
@Maura Johnston: Marine Girls: swoon…
Who knew that books would turn out to be the last profitable form of entertainment?
@Chris N.:
See TheWrap.com for the horrible news about Harper Collins today.
I saw Everything But The Girl perform at Borders, and BR4-59, and Rufus Thomas. I hadn’t bought any music from them in a long long time though, even when I was still buying plastic CDs, because of the markup factor.
Let them focus on what they started with, books and reading, and see if they can figure out a way to stay in business doing that. If anyone other than bn.com can…
I’d love to know why it never occurs to these stores that if they continued to carry a wide variety of cds and dvds they might actually attract customers. Reminds me of when Tower Records was going through its death throes and they decided to reduce floor space for cds and tried to sell cheap boomboxes and the like. I went to Tower originally because they always carried a ton of stuff. Oh well, considering the way my local Borders have become run dowm and seedy I wouldn’t be surprised to see Chapter 111 coming for Borders.
Damn. How’s my mom gonna pick up the music she hears on “Grey’s Anatomy” now?
@owenmeany: Dey play muzick on Grey’s Anatomy?
@Chris: Ah. Never mind.
I used to work at a borders. I’ve never met so many Jason Mraz fans in my life.
There won’t be a Borders by 2012. Anywhere.