Brothers Tom and Louis Borders and their legendary manager, Joe Gable, were ambitious characters, but there was surely no way they could have envisioned that their original 800-square-foot used bookstore on the University of Michigan campus would some day--30 years later--become a sprawling international giant, with more than 350 stores and 17,000 employees all over the world. There was certainly no way they could have imagined that a store bearing their name would also be on the ground floor of one of the greatest tragedies in American history.
Borders lost its marquee World Trade Center store in the September 11 terrorist attacks, just as the company was ramping up for its 30th-anniversary celebrations in October, and in a sense the tragedy gave the company--as well as its customers--an opportunity to put those 30 years in perspective, and to take a look at the core values that have shaped the company.
"This has been a chance, really, for all of us to count our blessings," says Tami Heim, president of Borders Stores. "We were very fortunate that all of our World Trade Center employees were safe and accounted for, and we've been gratified at the heartwarming response we've received from so many of our customers in a difficult time. It's really been overwhelming and humbling for us. We've always believed that we do more than just sell books and music, but it's nice to be reminded of the important role our stores play in their communities. We really think we can make a difference, and our relationship with our customers is so important to us, now more than ever."
In the Beginning
The Borders brothers had expansive goals from the outset, and within three years of opening that first store in Ann Arbor, they had branched into new books and moved into a 10,000-square-foot location. Louis Borders was instrumental in designing a computerized inventory control system that streamlined the flow of books in the brothers' store and paved the way for inventory management in the industry. By 1985 the brothers had added another 10,000 square feet in the original location and had opened new stores in Birmingham, Mich., and Atlanta. By the end of the decade, they had moved into Chicago and the East Coast. The expansion moved west in the '90s, and when the brothers sold the business to K mart in October of 1992, there were 22 Borders stores nationwide.
K mart--whose holdings also included the Waldenbooks chain of mall stores--continued to push the expansion, adding music and cafes to the mix, and when Borders and Waldenbooks went public in 1995, as Borders Group Inc., they were ready to take their act overseas. At the close of the century, Borders had stores in Singapore, Puerto Rico, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, and had forged an Internet relationship with Amazon.com. In the last six years the Borders Group has opened 80% of its new stores, and as they celebrate their 30th anniversary, the company is continuing to fine-tune the way it does business.
"We're doing far more customer research than we ever have in the past," Heim said. "We're implementing a category-management system that has never been done in this industry before. Ultimately, category management will enable us to deliver more of what the customer really wants. They've been using this structure successfully in groceries and drugstores for years, and even though we're still in our infancy with this project, we're already seeing some really positive developments."
Even as the events of September 11 put a damper on the 30th-anniversary plans, Borders did go ahead with smaller, more intimate celebrations in each of its stores.
"Every one of our stores is unique," Heim said. "And we gave a lot of leeway to our general managers to do store-specific gatherings honoring long-time employees and customers. We also planned weekend musical events in all of our stores on October 13, with 30-cent coffee in our cafes. It's really important for people to kick back and relax right now, and our job is to provide a fun, welcoming atmosphere for our customers."
Borders, like so many other booksellers in recent weeks, has seen a confirmation of the important role bookstores can play in times of crisis, and even in uncertain times, Heim recognizes that her company has much to be grateful for.
"It's important to pause after 30 years and celebrate our core values and all the things that we think make us such a unique and important part of so many people's lives," she said. "This is an information-hungry period, and people are also looking for diversion. I think people are really looking forward to the holidays this year, and there's a fabulous line-up of titles out there right now, one of the best book and music line-ups we've seen in a very long time. Bookstores are a great resource, and a great environment to get away from the world, so we're hoping that maybe we can provide people with a bright moment in a dark time."
