Borders will open concept store in Wareham
Book seller Borders Group Inc. said today that it plans to open one of its new concept stores in Wareham in June.
The 25,401 square-foot store represents a "significant enhancement" over the more than 1,100 existing stores that the Michigan-based chain operates under such nameplates as Borders and Waldenbooks, Borders said.
According to the company, its new concept stores seek to unite Internet and digital options with hard-cover and paperback books while also providing customers with an "engaging shopping experience."
At the concept store's digital center, for example, customers can download books and burn custom CDs, and there will also be a Seattle's Best Coffee cafe at the Wareham store as well as special destinations for cooking, wellness, travel, graphic novels, and children's books, the company said.
Wareham is only one of just under 20 communities in the entire nation in line to get a new Borders concept store in 2008, a Borders spokeswoman said.
(The images accompanying this story are from a special section of the company's website devoted to the new concept store.)
Book sellers have been facing challenges of late, in part because today's consumers have a host of entertainment options available to them aside from the old-fashioned pleasure of reading a good novel.
Meanwhile, some consumers have come to regard books as commodities and look for the lowest possible prices at discounters such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and at wholesale clubs such as Costco Wholesale Corp., analysts have said.
Perhaps squeezed by such forces, Borders announced last month that it may put itself up for sale. Borders said it has annual sales of $3.8 billion.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)
