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Publishers and book sellers have sealed their own fate

18 Feb 05:49am

Filed under: Book Stores, Books, Borders, Politics, Reading, Retail, Trade

Reading the news yesterday that the United States bookstore chain Border has gone into bankruptcy, I began to ask myself how long it could possibly be before a big Australian chain met the same fate. Unfortunately the wait wasn’t long.

Closing up shop? Picture: AFP

A press release came out that afternoon announcing that REDGroup, who control Borders Australia, Angus and Robertson and Whitcoulls in New Zealand, were being placed into administration. This will affect 260 stores.

Really, it is a wonder this didn’t happen earlier given that Australian booksellers have been defying the laws of market theory that would have sent other businesses bust long ago. There are a few reasons why this was pretty inevitable. One involves parallel import laws and the other the internet, but the two are closely linked.

Continue reading "Publishers and book sellers have sealed their own fate" »

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Bookshopowner says:

03:19pm | 06/07/11

$25 per hour would cover holiday pay sick pay work cover super and with the US’s high unemployment you sure can pay minimum wage waitresses can get as little as $2.50 per hour -they HAVE to get tips if Royal Mail were on at least full cost recovery UK books… Read more »
Sweetpea says:

11:20pm | 05/03/11

Rob the (former) Bookseller: $25 per hour to work in a bookshop?! Are you serious? Perhaps overpaying your casual staff is why your store went broke. Approx 5 years ago I was, as an adult, legally paid $12 per hour. Now I’m a ‘professional’ with a degree and 5 years… Read more »

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