First of all, whilst I address this to the staff at the Robina store of Borders, the same message can be given to anyone who has worked in any Borders/Angus Robertson at any time, after all, you have all been a part of the Australian book industry and provided me, alongside many others, with countless numbers of books and other media that beforehand, were very hard to come by in any other bookstore (Eg. Manga).
My story with Borders begins when I was in Chermside Westfield many years back, attending some sort of family event with my brother. Back then this site was only in its infancy and I wasn’t sure what direction it was going to be taking, but at the same time was struggling to find a source of manga. My mother decided it would just be other brothers doing the event and therefore took to walking around the center. Upon conclusion of the event, she dragged me and my brother to our first ever “Borders” store which to me was heaven, not only due to the presence of endless rows of books but also the fact that there was a Coffee Shop within it. That day, I spent something like $200 on manga which included: Gakuen Alice Vol. 1, Free Collars Kingdom Vol. 1-3, Kamichama Karin Chu! Vol. 1, Kon Kon Kokon, Disgaea Vol. 1, World Embryo Vol. 1 and a couple of volumes each of Strawberry Marshmallow and Rozen Maiden – and yes, this was back in the day when manga was much cheaper.
I made the trip there several times over the course of a year or two, most recently a week before I started my first university degree a few years back and the staff there were absolutely brilliant and dedicated to their job, but it was tedious making such a long journey up to Chermside (Which is north of Brisbane), especially as I didn’t have a license and had to rely on other people driving me there. That is when a shopping center, Robina Town Shopping Center which was a bit more local then past Brisbane – especially considering the traffic too and from Chermside, announced they were doing extensions and that a Borders store would be setting up in there *Include several jumps for joy here*.
This Borders store was placed over two floors, one dedicated to more adult books, DVD’s and magazines whilst the other floor focused more on childrens and young adult books, manga, non-fiction and all the other odds and ends that you would expect in a Borders store. I remember the first night it opened I traveled to the store and spent the better part of an hour and a half browsing the shelves, very pleased that there was going to be an all-in-one bookshop that the lower area of Queensland desperately needed. Honestly, to me and a lot of others, it essentially became a second home to a number of us, with friendly staff always willing to put forth an opinion on a book or readily available to provide assistance, to a place where you could sit down in Gloria Jeans with a coffee and read the new book you just purchased. As well, it just had that atmosphere of a friendly bookstore that catered to anyone, from one month old to a very old age that no-one has been able to achieve yet. You would be hard pressed not to find the book you were after, and if another book didn’t catch your eye in the process, they would usually be able to order it in.
Over the course of its time, Borders became bigger, moving to online sales if you couldn’t find a book in-store (Very helpful for US manga volumes that no store might have in stock over here) and to me, I didn’t think it would end anytime soon. However, due to the sad events of the company running it being put into administration, the stores have now dwindled down in size, yet the dedicated team at Robina managed to keep it running whilst other stores were being closed…. however on the 10th of July, the Borders dream will be put to an end, as they are forced to close their doors alongside the other eight or so remaining stores in Australia.
With all books now going out for 80-90% off and all furniture for sale, it is very saddening to see. However, for those wondering about that beautiful tree they had in the childrens section of the Robina store, it has apparently been sold to a school, so it will hopefully be cherished for many years to come.
Here is my message to Robina Borders alongside every other store in the Borders/Angus Robertson chains. Thank you very much over the course of several years for providing countless numbers of Australians with almost every book they needed, you have helped keep the youth of today reading and helping keeping the enjoyment of a physical book alive! Personally, you guys have also helped keep this website alive over the years, as most of the manga I have reviewed have come from your stores, and I still have plenty more to review, both those that I have purchased over the years and those that I have bought in the recent sales. You guys are awesome!
That is all I really have to say, but seriously, it is deeply saddening that the Borders/A&R stores are closing, considering the number of them that I have had the pleasure of attending… I am pretty sure I have been to every one that was placed in Queensland, alongside the ones at Chadstone and the Jam Factory (The original store apparently) in Victoria. However I sadly cannot list every A&R store I have been to, as there have been too many to count in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
I wish all the staff every success in their future careers!
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