How wonderful to return home late on a Friday night to some good news for the UK's book buying public. Thanks to the the ever reliable Book2book's communications, we now know that Borders UK has a new investor and it won't disappear into the ever generic and bland high street's modus operandi of book selling.
Book2book linked to an article in Publishing News that tells us that Risk Capital Partners has had their bid accepted by Borders US and that is good news!
Risk Capital Partners, to quote from their site, is "a team of four individuals investing their own money in private equity transactions. We are entrepreneurial investors with a good understanding and track record across a range of consumer, retail, leisure and support services businesses." Notice the key word here: "entrepreneurial". Entrepreneurs think differently; they don't boringly follow the established business models, they see gaps and opportunities in the market and then exploit them, creating successful businesses.
You only have to look at the make-up of the four investors that are "Risk Capital Partners" to get the picture. Luke Johnson is probably their biggest name, currently the Chairman of Channel Four (a bit of a trial of a job during the last year) and sitting on the board of various other companies, he's also the man that bought PizzaExpress and took it into public ownership, he also brought Belgian cuisine to London in the form of Belgo, and there's far more. His investing colleagues at Risk Capital Partners include a couple of chartered accountants and an experienced professional in "start-ups, restructuring and investment banking". It's a bit like the team on the BBC's programme Dragons' Den, but this team is not seeking a media profile as well, they remain in the market, seeking success and making money.
What might this mean to the UK's book buying public? There will remain another separate bookselling chain, under its own management, that can seek opportunities and do things differently. I hope that Borders management, under its new ownership, will be steered into less of the lemming tendency and more of the "let's approach this differently and listen to our customers' expression of needs". With investment from a team of entrepreneurs - that key word again - I am confident that Borders UK will have an interesting future and that book buyers will seek out their stores.
Bravo to Borders UK and to Risk Capital Partners!
Adding the Welsh angle, as sometimes comes up on this blog, Borders in Cardiff opens next weekend, on the 28th of September to be precise, in The Hayes in Cardiff, in the old David Morgan department store building, a mere few paces from the local Waterstone's branch. Might this prove to be the "book corner" in Cardiff?
Good to see Borders remaining an independent chain with the potential for remaining "different" and hopefully with a wider selection of stock. Readers want that; it doesn't all come down to price as it does in the case of a can of beans or the latest cook-chill variety of an evening meal to stick in the microwave. Readers are discerning creatures; taste matters and individual genres are swallowed whole or spitted out.
That could be true here too, Peter. Johnson is noted in the press last weekend as saying he wants to extend the stationery range, but that's potentially not the full picture for any changes he's about to make.
A good article here:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2175042,00.html
and another here:
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2174643,00.html
Johnson sees the value in books and that's what's imperative right now in the UK.
To date, Borders UK has been another chain in the UK with limited geographic stretch, mainly in the south east. We don't have that many chains on the high street; in fact you could say that we have only two - Waterstone's and W H Smith, alongside the ever-burgeoning supermarket chains' book buying power. (More of same, more of same, tip of the iceberg stuff, at a competitive price differential that could lead to thoughts on how far to travel to buy the book, if green; taking in the cost of parking, if on a budget. Lazy arses that can't get out of their seats would always plump for online sales, but prices are more than competitive there too! Want to wait for delivery? Buy online.)
Where these high street sellers proved to be copycats, competing on price only - to the penny, Borders UK has managed to offer a slightly different choice. Still tip of the iceberg, perhaps, but a different iceberg. And that's what counts when it comes to selection and book buying and choice.
Borders UK is high street and out of town stores, but when it comes to choice, it's dispensed with the blinkers that large corporates automatically wear when considering its stocks.
Friendly and welcoming customer service is also key. Author events, ditto. Borders UK feels far less removed from its customers. Where (the few) others deliver a cake and offer a slice; Borders feels like it's offering a different cake.
Price is still a key element in the equation. Indies sell at RRP. As someone who looks after my book buying budget, I'm keen to get the lowest price and will hunt for it. It's only on a purchasing whim that I part with the full price.
Above all, what we need in the UK is more choice when it comes to book-buying. An independent Borders will add value to that goal.
Borders UK has the opportunity to find and consolidate a USP with Johnson and I hope they do. The UK book-buying public cries out for this.
Posted by: CFR | 24 September 2007 at 22:48
It's hard for me to get a realistic perspective on Borders. In areas ill- or little-served by bookshops, it may have done lot of good. In large cities, though, I think of Borders as a hazard to independent bookshops and as a chain that emphasized the "experience" of book shopping rather than the books themselves or, to be more precise, tried to make itself more than just a bookstore. Thing is, just a bookstore is just fine for me!
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Peter | 24 September 2007 at 07:48
Borders UK is a Godsend, an outlet of bookselling that follows the high street format but manages to be wonderfully different, putting up new stuff and breaking the mould, Peter, in the UK. Hence we get more choice in book buying, here in the UK. That's why Borders remains special to us.
Borders is also the last bastion of some kind of difference on the high street in the UK, Peter. Where we might choose the same knickers, more than likely from M&S, book reading has a wider sphere of choice and taste. Borders tries to meet the need.
A staggering great loss for Borders last year; Johnson's Risk Capital Partners has paid £10m with the possibility of up to £10m more, depending on how the stores perform in the future. Borders US retains a 17% stake in ownership. But this is nothing compared to the original estimated value of the company arm sold.
Johnson will have ideas and they will be quickly implemented. Best to watch the press...
Posted by: crimeficreader | 23 September 2007 at 17:56
What's the book scene like in the U.K. outsude of Borders? I've had complaints about Borders here in the U.S.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Peter | 22 September 2007 at 02:21