Closing of Borders on Mag Mile a sad chapter
January 07, 2011|By Mary Schmich
Heather Charles, Chicago Tribune
By Saturday, Borders’ marquee Chicago store, at 830 N. Michigan Ave., will be closed for good. And — here’s what I think is the real news — the city’s premier shopping street will be without any bookstore for the first time in decades.
By Thursday, the cavernous old Borders was more rummage sale than bookstore.
Yellow tape, the kind ordinarily seen at crime scenes, cordoned off empty shelves, racks and tables that once bore the weight of millions of bound words. All fixtures were for sale.
The shelves near the front door, once occupied by best-sellers, now flaunted such obscure titles as “El Asesor del Presidente,” a Spanish-language biography of former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.’
Price: 5 cents. “While Supplies Last,” the sign said. No one was buying.