Borders Group Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, has begun liquidating stores across the country, including this one at Downtown Crossing.
(Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe)
BOOKSTORES: UPGRADING TO A NEW BROWSER
An experience worth price of admission
Borders Group Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, has begun liquidating stores across the country, including this one at Downtown Crossing.
(Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe)
RE “BROWSERS don’t buy’’ (Business, July 20): It saddens me to learn that the downtown Borders store is closing. When I worked near Downtown Crossing years ago, I often visited Borders during my lunch hour or after work to browse new books and magazines. Like the customers quoted in your article, I rarely bought anything.
Perhaps bookstores need a new business model: admission fees. I for one would be willing to pay a cover charge for access to a “browsing store’’ - a brightly lit expanse of comfortable overstuffed furniture and thoughtfully assembled, ever-changing displays of the latest books.
Deb Drexler
Needham
IF BOOKSTORES are in trouble because browsers don’t buy (Business, July 20), they might sell admission to this free entertainment for a buck or two, to be refunded when the browser buys a book.
X. J. Kennedy
Lexington 
© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.
