Borders extends open invitation to book clubs

In the increasingly brutal book wars, Borders Group Inc. is learning what coffeehouses long have known: Encourage shoppers to think of you as a home away from home and they’ll spend more, maybe even become regulars.

To spur that feeling, Borders quietly unveiled a program last month that invites book clubs to convene at its cafes instead of in members’ homes. The step is geared toward helping the money-losing bookstore chain drum up sales and reshape itself into a local gathering place instead of a faceless superstore.

Signs and posters telling shoppers to bring their book group to the store have gone out from corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich., to Borders’ 507 outposts, said Mary Davis, spokeswoman for the chain. Borders’ Chicago flagship, which is slated to close next year, already has played host to a few private book clubs in its third-floor event space.

“We’re encouraging stores to reach out to the public to say, ‘We’re here,’ ” Davis said. “It’s a way to drive traffic to the stores.”

Borders has been closing stores to adjust to falling sales as Amazon.com and Wal-Mart grab market share. Times got tougher when Wal-Mart and Amazon launched a $10 book price war right before the holidays. Then in January, Borders cut 10% of its corporate work force and Chief Executive Ron Marshall resigned after one year, the third person to occupy the CEO post in as many years.

Since 2002, Barnes & Noble and Borders have finished each year with fewer stores than they began, while Wal-Mart, Target and Costco have expanded, said Michael Norris, an analyst at research firm Simba Information. The superstore book chains also hurt themselves by replacing booksellers with cashiers, a move that sent avid readers to independents, he said.

“The chains need to figure out why they have a reason to exist,” Norris said. “They are caught in the middle. You have the Internet on one hand, where people can access whatever books they want, and on the other hand you have disengaged people who happen to buy a book if they are walking through Target or Wal-Mart. Then you have passionate independent booksellers placing the book into your hands.”

An important part of book ownership is getting together and talking about the books, Norris said, adding that Borders’ program is a step in the right direction.

Jones writes for the Chicago Tribune.