The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

Found out today they are closing the store on 21st and the B.A. and leaving town for good.

That wasn't part of the original plan, I believe they were going to close 81st & Yale and leave this one open.

It's on their updated list of closures released today: http://www.bordersreorganization.com/Reorganization_Closure_List_3.17.pdf

I hate to see that, it was convenient and...hmmm.... usually pretty quiet.  Might be a good reason for it closing then ;)

Here is the latest list of all the stores from WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/BordersClose.pdf (http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/BordersClose.pdf)

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/03/17/borders-closing-more-stores-heres-the-list/ (http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/03/17/borders-closing-more-stores-heres-the-list/)

It will be interesting to see if Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million takes its place.  I saw they shuttered their OKC store too but looks like Norman is staying open for now.  That will be the lone Borders in Oklahoma..

I don't see any reason for either of those retailers to move into the space.  The B & N and Borders business models in their stores is imperceptible to me, so my assumption is apparently there's more brick and mortar book retailers than needed in the market. 

WHAT? THEY ARE CLOSING THE BORDERS?

How will I get the good tequila and Canadian Bacon?

For the tequila, I have this friend, and he......... maybe I should talk about this later  ;)

You may like what happens on Yale.

21st is a little more difficult. Great visibility and demographics but 2 stories and access issues.

Locals picked up both locations recently from a REIT or a TIC.

Both locations have good access/visibility and demographics.  Some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Tulsa are within a square mile radius of each location.

So, you think there might be a plan for 21st or will it sit vacant and rot for 5 years?

http://www.boingboing.net/2011/03/15/why-borders-failed.html

* "To provide one example, a lower ranked title that sells out in a B&N will be replenished from a central warehouse within 2-3 days. The same process could take up to 16 weeks for Borders"
* I'm not aware of a Border's Nook or Kindle
Border's online store:   let's use Amazon.com to do it for us..  kinda like IBM using Microsoft to develop competing OS   ... gee, why did OS2 fail
* etc

I would love for the 21st location to remain a bookstore, maybe Books-A-Million would want to open a second Tulsa location? 

Not likely but a local bookstore with cafe would be cool.  Something like the Tattered Cover in Denver:
http://www.tatteredcover.com/ (http://www.tatteredcover.com/)

I actually spend more time in this place http://bookmans.com/ (http://bookmans.com/) then B&N. Have done a lot of trade in with them, and it's nice to have a choice of store credit or cash.

I would bet 21st will not be retail in the future.

The only thing that will sit and rot for 5 years will be in downtown....The Penguins props. :(

Half-Price Books needs to move in!  I lived near one in Dallas and it is awesome.  They have one in OKC now.  The 21st location is ideal imo.

http://www.hpb.com/ (http://www.hpb.com/)

I live near the 21st St. Borders and hope this building can be refocused on some type of retail space.  I suspect it will probably end up being converted to an office buildling.

On the plus side, Borders demise in this part of town might help Steve Sundry Books fight the rising tide against brick and mortar book stores.

So long as Steve's continues it's focus on a wide array of periodicals and more books of local interest, they will always be relevant.  Thinking about the Borders on 21st, it would probably be better for office space with the access there.

I agree Steve's will be relevant, I just hope it can stay profitable.  It is a tough and changing business that is really squeezing the niche players.

What's interesting is the book business is something Steve's evolved into to stay profitable and relevant over the last 25-30 years.  I grew up in the neighborhood just west of there in the early to mid '70's and it was a "sundry" store which more or less was a convenience store.  It's evolution into books and all the periodicals occurred in the last 25 years to be able to stay relevant in the face of QT's and Walgreens all over the place.

The Penguin.  Love it.  So appropriate.

Books-a-Million could move  into that location and fill in a gap they don't currently serve in Tulsa.

There is a Books-a-Million store at 71st and US 75 shopping center.

I heard Kitchell is looking at the 21st location for a new night-club...... ??? ??? ???

Boobs-A-Million?

haha...South of the Border..... ;D

Please forgive the blast from the past, but search couldnt find the more recent discussion about the old building at 21st & the BA.

The original site is unrecognizable now with the structure greatly expanded to store mountains of peoples junk, but there is a separate, smaller structure now on the NW corner of the lot that looks to be the size of a drive-thru coffee or cell phone shop.  Any clues?

Pretty sure it's going to be a Starbucks drive thru.  Crazy how many coffee drive throughs there are in town.  You could just drive around town drinking coffee all day and never have to get out of your car!