Borders was my favourite book shop

Commerce Borders UK stores prepare for their final chapter. They've stopped taking orders for books online and in stores, which as we know from the Zavvi experience this kind of thing is very bad news indeed for a chain. For a period, Borders was my favourite book shop. I even had a rule that I couldn't leave the store without having bought something and it was always the place to find unusual items, be it music I wouldn't otherwise listen to, books I wouldn't necessarily read to or otherwise some very good world cinema.

But over time, the elements which made Borders different eroded; first it was the listening posts which allowed you to sample most of the music in the shop, then the breadth of the stock began to noticeably erode. Other shops, like Game and Paperchase began to take up residence within their walls taking away the space for Borders's own stock and the overall feel of the shop, that of an old fashioned library where you could buy the stock, was broken up. Now they just feel like any other shop. And I have Spotify, no time to read books, and Lovefilm.