I, myself, was very sad when BORDERS closed its doors to me. I LOVE books. I love the smell and feel of the paper pages in my hands. WHY are bookstores drowning in failure??? .... Hipsters and tech-companies and their "NOOKS." Are we kidding ourselves people, or are we simply TRYING to self-destruct? How many publishers will flounder before we realize that we did it to ourselves. We buy electronic books now. Say goodbye to bookshelves, oh, and hi-liters too.

Books aren't even my main concern here, despite the fact that they are a culturally significant form of press, and only the first one ever established.... Now I'm all for saving a tree, but unlike our diminishing job market and economy, trees grow back hippies.... And how about all of those plastics, metals, and wires that will have to be melted down, destroying our atmosphere, or clogging up our soil in land-fills world-wide when your 'NOOK" decides to die on you? How many jobs will be replaced by technology, and/or outsourced in order to CREATE said technology at a cheaper price?

BORDERS may have died already, and Barnes & Noble is well on its way to the same dastardly demise.... But I beg you, fellow Portlanders, SAVE Powell's and DON'T buy a "NOOK." For all that is culturally respected, PLEASE!

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Thousands of years. Thousands. You really think that hipsters and Nooks are going to change that? Idiot.

The decision to eschew the internet is a great moment of incompetency in the history of the book business and it has meant the demise of one of the last big book warehouses. I won't be sad to see it go, aside from the jobs lost.

My Father has owned and run Longfellows Books in SE Portland as a small used and rare bookstore since 1980- he has experienced the ups and downs of one move and the cacophony of the business cycle but he stubbornly persists. Powells will exist indefinitely; smaller independent/used stores will persist as long as people support them by attempting to buy books at places other than Amazon or BN. Other cities won't be so lucky so it's up to lovers of literature to support independent and small bookstores if they value small businesses and independent thought. We shall see what happens.

That comment should have ended better- come on in and see us and we will try to alleviate you of some of your money in return for some beautiful, stimulating books! You can find us online- longfellowspdx.com Best wishes to all the bibliophiles.

Very good article -- but I was confused when I started reading and said ".. hey, I already read this..." -- and I had, in The Seattle Stranger (August 2, 2011.) I know that's your sister newspaper (your progenitor newspaper? your sisterdaddy paper?) I wish you had footnoted that fact - still a very good article.

ajaguarorpossiblyapanther for COTW and mayor. Where do you find these clowns? Oh, right, journalism "school."

What crime has Paul Constant committed other than being honest about his feelings and experiences at Borders? What is it about Portland that seems to attract so many passive-aggressive jerks and sociopaths like ajaguarorpossiblyapanther? It's clear Constant bemoans the passing of the company, and outlines why he thinks it declined. Gee, you'd think he was a member of the Manson family the way his critics react. I found the article an interesting insider's view of the bookstore.

I worked at the same Borders as Paul & there was great shift when wall street started to dictate the way we did business. It was a place for those who love books & music but the overwhelming greed of stock holders for the immediate dollar killed it, the did not understand the business & how it had to be nurtured & grow at a slower pace, the staff got progressively dimmer & Amazon put the nail in the coffin when they took over the web sales. ajaguarorpossiblyapanther you have no Idea what you are talking about, this story was right on. BTW the District manager in question once said that his job was more important than his new born baby now that's Corporate in all its glory.

I think it was the childish bit about all the awesome shit (drugs/parties/STDs/sex/sex/drugs/we partied so hard) he did before he got to the point about Borders. Mercury "writers" seem to be hard up to solicit their cool-guy/gal reputations in every story, and Paul is leading the pack.

Don't get me wrong, fun to read, but totes fucking irrelevant and narcissistic. But they give the paper away free, so fuck it.

"The front of the store, with all the kitchen magnets and board games and junk you don't need took over large chunks of the expansive magazine and local-interest sections. "

When I was waiting in one of these mazes, I knew the death of borders was oncoming. It was the last time I went to a borders, besides the coffee at Seattle's Best.

I think reprinting stories from the "sister" paper that have no relevance to Portland - considering the Borders downtown closed last Christmas - is the first sign that alt weeklies won't exist in Portland in 10 years. Sort of like the Willy Week reprinting that hipster trash from the NYC Observer a few weeks back.