Which bookstore?

Question

Which one do you shop at? Borders gives you coupons at the store and via email plus one day a month with 10% off your purchase. Then, for all your purchases you get some free money added to an account that you can use at the end of the year. I got about 25 bucks in free books last year. So I was wondering why anyone would pay money for a membership card at other bookstores.

Answer 1

You know, everybody is mentioning the big box chain stores - what about your smaller Mom/Pop bookstores, those owned by real people who really love books. I don't care what kind of a discount the chains give. For what it's worth, Walmart gives books away at a 40-50% discount. But when I want a book, I don't want to go somewhere that the staff has to know books, movies, music, sidelines and coffee...I want someone who knows what books are really about. I'll pay full cover price for a hard-cover to know that small town booksellers stay around forever.

Answer 2

I have a Borders reward, but don't normally buy new books anyway. Usually I buy at used stores or online through campusi.com. Or I wait until the library has a book sale, where you can fill three bags for only $5. At about 20-30 books per bag, even Borders Rewards looks pathetic.
Plus, B&N has great cheesecake and chairs to sit in. With my Borders experience, I also find they aren't as organized. There are display tables all over, and their selections are not as wide as B&N. This could just be the few Borders stores I've been in, but even they have been in large cities, versus the mid-size city our B&N is in, where I can find most anything very quickly.
I will give Borders this: they have a Horror section. B&N needs to pick up on that. Still, used book places usually have extremely knowledgeable salespeople dedicated to the job more than the chains. And they're friendly to boot. They have a more personal feel than the larger places.

Answer 3

I prefer Books-A- Million even though they aren't found in the Northeast or on the West Coast. A discount card costs $10 dollars and you get a 10% discount on everything, and it can be used on line. Barnes & Noble also have a card, but it is $25 for a 10% discount in the store and a 5% discount online. There are no good Borders near my home so I am not familiar with any program they have for discounts. I know that Borders is teamed with amazon.com for online purchases, and amazon.com always discounts many of their books.Since I spend over $1000 a year in Books-A-Million, I get my money back many times over again every year.

Answer 4

I look for deals for Borders/BN/Amazon whenever I need to purchase a book. I can often find 15% to 30% off coupon codes or printable coupons depending on the promotions. I think I save more by not sticking to one seller but I could be wrong. A good place to look for coupons is SearchAllDeals.com. With it, I can search deals in 60+ bargain sites all at once. It saved me a lot of time and money.

Answer 5

Getting free books through a club account is hard to beat! Good going! I don;t have a Borders within an easy drive for me, so I am not familiar with them.

I usually try HalfPriceBooks near my house. (New or used, I dont' care, as long as it's readable.) For book shopping online, I use Amazon mostly. But whenever I shop online for books (or anything else for that matter)... I look for coupon codes on my favorite site: http://www.dealtaker.com

Answer 6

Instead of Borders, which is fine, try eBay, Amazon or Alibris online. You can get books for a fraction of the cost, and the books get recycled. Or go to a used book store. If you just like the ambiance of the retail bookstore, go there to browse and then shop online. Oh, and don't forget your local library. Books are "free" there. Libraries will disappear if people don't use them.

Answer 7

There isn't a Borders bookstore with two hundred miles of me (at least). There isn't a Barnes & Noble within a hundred miles of me. There isn't a bookstore within 40 miles of me. There isn't a USED bookstore within 40 miles of me. Given these facts, I either buy used books at yard sales or I go to the library or I write my own.

Answer 8

Barnes and Nobles just because it's closer, but when I have the chance, I like to go to Borders because it has a better selection and good deals.

Answer 9

I have memberships with Barnes and Noble and Borders.

Answer 10

For me, B&N is just more convenient to my home. Given the choice, I'd probably shop there anyway. They have Starbucks (my fave) and their staff has been more helpful than the folks at Borders.