http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/17/3141731.htm
On the heels of the Borders collapse in the US.
It's sad that people will be thrown out of work, but this is what happens when businesses don't adapt when the goods they sell can be retailed by other cheaper means.
there's a perfect example of "adapt or perish"
amazon sold only books for most of the late 90's and yet they are still around
Different though. Publishers don't rip off Amazon as they're not located in Australia.
While I often dislike Australian retailers as much as the next person, I feel sorry for them too. No matter how hard they try, they can't compete when publishers give them a cost price the same as the RETAIL price for other countries.
They just need to sell their books at 35% off RRP like Big W does!
When the aussie dollar got you 70 cents US or 40p UK it was no cheaper to buy from Amazon. With the aussie dollar at 1 to 1 with the US it's a different story. That's the real change.
What will happen if/when the aussie dollar goes back down & all the local bookstores are gone. There will be no chain in Australia selling a decent range anymore. Big W & the like only sell lowbrow rubbish…
We will not have bookshops worth visiting here at all. Very sad.
There's more to the story than just the Internet and exchange rates. It seems the owners pigged out on cheap credit before the Global Fried Chicken struck.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/dont-blame-the-internet-for-b…
And how could those dinosaurs keep running in expensive glitzy shopping centres? My fave bookstore has their own premises. Loyal customers don't mind that the space is crammed with books instead of expensive empty space (e.g. the Chatswood Borders). And yes they do sell over the Internet too.
Big tenants like Borders don't pay huge rents in the malls. They are 'anchor tenants' & they pay very low rent per square metre as they pull alot of visitors to the centres. The centre owners know that without the big anchor tenants people just don't come to their mall. So they charge them very little per square metre, or even give them long rent free periods to get them to commit to a lease.
When a big tenant leaves it is a disaster for the malls, as they are very hard to replace. Another big name tenant has to be lured in, again by cheap long-term rent deals.
Likewise if you lose a tenant that leases many sites in your chain, like Angus & Robertson, it's a worry. It's not easy to find a retailer to lease all those suddenly vacant stores.
I guess if you own your own building you can survive as an independant bookstore. But their prices are the highest of anyone in the bookselling market. They have been struggling for years because prices have come down everywhere else but at their stores. And they are often in quieter locations. They cannot possibly take up the gap created by 260 A&R and Borders stores closing in the retail precincts.
I feel worried for the local publishing industry, who may very soon have 260 less outlets for their titles. How will they afford to publish books by Australian authors if there are so few places left to sell them?
A&R and their likes sold mostly popular stuff anyway. They were hardly paragons of support for local authors. You may recall that incident where A&R tried to heavy a local publisher and his letter and the publisher's caustic and very literate response was put on the Internet to the amusement and derision of observers.
Here it is, that risible correspondence.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2007/08/09/angus-robertson-throws-t…
That's why I have no sympathy for A&R, they got taken over by bean counters.
As for Borders, sure the store was a nice quiet place to cool down, but from some of the kitsch they were selling you wondered if they were a bookstore or a variety store.
Don't fear! I'll open a book store (competitive prices) that delivers Aus wide!
Great commentary on this Red Group mess
http://www.theage.com.au/national/scary-new-worlds-uncertain…
'…there is no comfort for anyone in the failure of the two chains. Together they are believed to represent about 20 per cent of Australian book retailing. The independent bookstores account for about another 20 per cent. Combined, they were the segment of book retailing in which many of the books that matter most to an Australian identity and culture were sold. It was also here that the books we think important to a larger idea of our world and ourselves - novels, essays, poetry and histories - were sold.
Many small publishers… must be looking today at their future publishing schedules with very heavy hearts, wondering how on earth they can continue to make it all work.'
It'll probably be restructured and hopefully the new owners will have more of a clue.
I don't think that they will get much sympathy for what they have done with their gift cards. See below a link to their website.
http://www.angusrobertson.com.au/gift-cards/
Important Information regarding gift cards
Due to the voluntary administration process which the company is currently working through, gift cards are not currently available for purchase online or in store. Gift cards cannot currently be redeemed online but may be redeemed in store, by spending at least twice the face value of the card (i.e. to redeem a gift card with a face value of $25, you must make a total purchase of $50 or more).
Book shops will end up like CD Shops.
They could re-name the chain 'Anguish and Rob-it-son'