We need a new bookstore
We're always talking about how we wish Grand Forks had a particular store or restaurant that we're currently lacking. Although a lion's share of the discussion seem to be centered around pining for an Olive Garden or wishing we had a grocery store that stocked high-end or hard to find foods, I see another area where this city is currently lacking. Grand Forks needs a new, big, "real" bookstore.
Yes, I know that we have that great big Barnes & Noble store at University Village. It's a very nice bookstore...a very nice college bookstore. You see, it is actually a Barnes & Noble College Booksellers store, not a real Barnes and Noble location. That's why the store has such limited hours and doesn't stock some of the merchandise that a regular Barnes & Noble would usually stock. So, while a very nice UND bookstore, this is not really the kind of bookstore that adequately serves a community of this size.
There are other bookstore in Grand Forks too. Columbia Mall has two - Walden Books and B. Dalton - however, they are both quite small and only carry a limited selection of books. They also aren't conducive to customers who like to leisurely peruse books and carry on a conversation over lattes. They are both decent "mall bookstores." However, once again, they are not what a community like Grand Forks truly needs.
So, while the UND bookstore and the mall bookstores are all fine stores which serve particular purposes, they are not fulfilling all of this community's needs when it comes to booksellers. That's why I think Grand Forks desperately needs a big, new bookstore to set up shop somewhere in town. This bookstore should have long hours, carry a wide assortment of titles, possibly include a music department, and offer amenities such as a cafe. A logical spot for such a bookstore would be on the south side of town...that way, the store would be all but guaranteed a steady flow of business.
Exactly what store do I have in mind for expansion into Grand Forks? Well, since the current Barnes & Noble in town isn't a "real" Barnes & Noble...would it be out of the question for that chain to open a new bookstore in Grand Forks? If not them, how about a Borders?
Fargo and Bismarck both currently have large Barnes & Noble stores and now Minot is about to get a brand new Barnes & Noble. Why should Grand Forks be left out of the plans? Grand Forks needs a big, new, "real" bookstore that can function as both a place to buy books and as a place to simply spend the evening perusing titles and sipping coffee.
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Yes, yes, yes. And it would be wonderful if a local bookstore was willing to have book club meetings. I have called all the book stores in town and none of them are even aware of a local bookclub. I would love to see more attention to this, I hope you get a good response.
barnes & noble might be decent if it were ever open past 5pm
I don't know anyone who shops at actual brick-and-mortar bookstores anymore. If I need a book, I go to Amazon.com.
It would seem that if the demand is really there, B&N would stay open community [as opposed to campus] hours. Of course, a 'new' bookstore would be able to sell everything a bit cheaper than B&N on campus as they wouldn't have to give UND the percentage rake-off!
I totally agree with this topic ... I can't tell you how many times my husband and I have thought how nice it would be on a Friday or Saturday night to go out to the bookstore, get a coffee and browse (and buy) ... but nope, not with B&N hours. There's nothing to do for a quiet date-night out if you don't like bars and find the restaurants in town extremely lacking. Ho hum ... I guess I save money that way.
Also, a book club would be wonderful.
Do the students at NDSU buy their books at the Barnes and Noble in Fargo? Is that Barnes and Noble also a college bookstore? I think this Barnes and Noble should stay open later, and especially appreciate the idea of a date night at the book store while sipping coffee.
I agree with Liz. No matter how big and "real" a new bookstore we could have, it still wouldn't necessarily have all the books we wanted. Going to Amazon.com is much easier than the hassle of asking B&N to order books for you, plus it saves one from having to brave the -30 windchill. ;) It's certainly enjoyable to wander around a bookstore and just browse for hours, and while B&N isn't *that* big, it does have a decent selection of popular and recently-published books.
We do not need a new bookstore. We just need B&N to extend their hours.
The Minot B&N is a campus bookstore too. I think a local store with a coffee shop would be great. Those that mention selection are right, no matter how big the store is people will always check online. People should complain to B&N about the hours and see if it helps.
As much as I dislike most chains, dump a Borders in downtown somewhere and extend the hours on Barnes and Noble.
I think the old Leevers location (or closer to downtown) would be good. Let's spread out our retail a little bit, shall we?
Also, don't forget about the Book Fair that sells new and used books.
Check the libraries for book clubs. Speaking of, Tu-Uyen Tran did a series on new library designs a few months ago. Some new libraries now have coffee shops and cafes. Does anyone know if the GF library is looking to expand?
Fargo's Barnes & Noble is not NDSU's bookstore. NDSU has its own bookstore on campus in the union. And Fargo's Barnes & Noble is actually quite busy on weekend evenings. It also has storytime for children, among other activities for people of all ages.
I wish GF would have something similar up here. It would be a welcome alternative for something to do in the evenings.
At least the Minot Barnes & Noble is attached to their mall.
Twice I have contacted Borders about coming to Grand Forks. The first time I got lost in their bureacracy. The second time I was told my message was being forwarded to the department that planned for new stores. Never heard from them again.
I don't know of any Borders in ND. They won't come until they decide to come. Too bad they are missing out on all the Canadian train, but then they know better than us. Right?
I agree with the need for another bookstore. I always go to Borders or B&N when I am in the cities, or B&N in Fargo. I like the feel of a book (or a camera) in my hand when I am thinking about buying something. Faithfully read what it says about the book/author on the flap. No on line shopping compares for this old guy.
Believe it or not, but the library isn't aware of any local book clubs either. It is rather surprising that a community this size does not have ANY--especially with a U the size of ours.
At least the Minot Barnes & Noble is attached to their mall.
Everything in Minot is attached to their mall!
Try the EGF Campbell library. One activity from their website:
Activity
Sack Lunch Reading Club
Dates
January 08, 2008 to May 13, 2008
Description
Sack Lunch Reading Club meets at 11:30 every 2nd Tuesday of the month at Campbell Library. Bring your lunch, thoughts and suggestions. Reading Schedule: January 8 "A Separate Peace" John Knowles February 12 "The Old Man and the Sea" Ernest Hemingway March 11 "Hanging Judge" Elmer Kelton April 8 "Little Women" Louisa May Alcott May 13 "No Promises in the Wind" Irene Hunt
Nope. You are wrong here. We don't need another bookstore. In fact, it is SO rare for me to find a book I want here town that I almost always buy from Amazon.
Nope. You are wrong here. We don't need another bookstore. In fact, it is SO rare for me to find a book I want here town that I almost always buy from Amazon.
This is the exact reason we need a bookstore in town that has a decent selection! I want to be able to read part of it before I buy it, not click and hope I haven't just wasted my money.
I contacted Borders over a year ago about bringing a store here and they were happy to provide contact information for who to send the proposals to. I took that as meaning that they had no plans to expand into this area but were willing to entertain the idea.
The B&N at UND is NOT a true B&N - they do not accept B&N discount cards or coupons but is just a college bookstore. B&N is a required stop for me when I go to Fargo.
I'm not positive that the UND B&N gives UND a share of its profits. Perhaps for some of the Fighting Sioux athletic gear, but I doubt for any of the books or other merchandise. Does anyone know for sure?
As for the reading group at the EGF library, it looks like most of those books are old classics for high school readers. How about more current offerings (and nothing wrong with a classic from time to time) for adults?
Personally, I'd love to see a downtown shop with a point of view? Maybe extensive political or local history and authors selections. And used books...along with a the requisite cozy coffee shop, of course.
A dear friend of mine, when first she moved to Grand Forks, was keen to join a local book club. So she went to the Yellow Pages and called all the book stores advertised to see if they had a book club she could join. She had a very interesting conversation with the Plain Brown Wrapper :)
"I'm not positive that the UND B&N gives UND a share of its profits."
B&N got into UND by promising a minimum of 700K a year and a certain percentage of total sales which might exceed that. In other words, they bought UND. This is the strategy they use with all universities.
Interestingly enough, UND's contract with B&N is almost up, and there are at least three bookstores that have expressed interest in taking over as the official bookstore on campus. This came up at Sunday's student senate meeting. I'm not sure if B&N is included in the three that were mentioned, or if it means three additional companies have expressed interest.
Does anyone know if the B&N at the mall in Minot is going to be the campus bookstore, or if a B&N location on campus will be the official bookstore? It seems really inconvenient to have their campus bookstore so far away from campus. On a related note, both the bookstores that were already in place at Dakota Square are closing now that B&N is getting close to opening. I have to wonder what a Borders in GF would do to our nice little mall bookstores in Grand Forks. Would either of them go out of business, or would they have enough business from the casual mallgoer to stay open?
I'd guess if Borders opened up here, the Waldenbooks in the mall would close up.
Waldenbooks at some point became the small store format for Borders.
Both of the Columbia Mall bookstores are in need of a thorough remodeling. I have a bad feeling that the days of our Waldenbooks might be numbered. The Bismark store closed a while back and now the Minot store will be closing for good this weekend.
Also, there seems to be some confusion on here about the Minot Barnes & Noble. The MSU bookstore is now managed by B&N College Booksellers but it is still on campus in the Student Center. The new Dakota Square store is a regular B&N...no connection to the College Booksellers division/spin-off of B&N.
Also, I'm a little disappointed that, in the age of Amazon.com, some GFL readers no longer see the need for brick and mortar bookstores. I buy books from websites like Amazon AND from brick and mortar bookstores. Nothing can quite compare to perusing the titles of a well-stocked bookstore.
Remember also, that when ordering books online, you pay shipping and handling. Why pay that extra 3-5 bucks when you could drive to a store and get the book for pretty much the same amount you'd pay online. And not to mention, you get to walk out of the store WITH the book. You don't have to wait a week to get it through the mail.
I'm all for a larger community-centered B&N opening up here in town. I was very disappointed in the selection at the UND store. It's pathetic.
I am a borders employee in the cities, and have always felt that it would be a good addition to grand forks. From what I gather, the company is going to see how waldenbooks does before opening a big store in gf. Also, in the next two years all waldenbooks are going to become "borders express" stores. In fact, some of the signage at the gf walden is that of borders express.
"From what I gather, the company is going to see how waldenbooks does before opening a big store in gf."
Come on Canadians, SHOP!
I travel around the state and country on business and one of my most common stops is at a B&N. In early December I was in Fargo and stopped at B&N at 10:30 pm on a friday night and could not find a chair to sit down and have a coffee. This is not the first time I have ran into this problem in Fargo or Bismark. The place was crowed with people of all ages, even a lot of college kids studing. Thats probabley what I should have been doing when I was in college.
The B&N in GF is a joke. If I was B&N I would be ashamed to have my name associated with it. But from what I have read on this blog from the college people and cost of text books, I guess the mighty dollar speaks pretty loudly over there, because they certainly can not be making it on regular book sales.
Just my 2 cents.
I would love to see a B&N or Borders come to GF! The empty Target building might be nice if they wanted to be attached to a mall (and if Target would sell it). They could do something really cool with a downtown location and the historic buildings there, but I worry about parking... a ramp 3 blocks away just dosen't do it for me in the winter.
"a ramp 3 blocks away just dosen't do it for me in the winter."
I hear this sentiment more and more about shopping/dining downtown. For such hearty folk, we sure can be a bunch of wusses, too!
Where in the world are the Twinkies in this town? or Hostess in general? Walmart, Target or any other store seem to not stock them. Any help would be helpful! :D
I agree with the other posters that mentioned Amazon. Even with a new bookstore that is actually open I'd probably still buy from Amazon.
And also why does everyone always talk about wanting a Oliver Garden. That place is one of the worst restaurant I've ever been too. I've never had a good meal there and usually end up sick. I will never eat there again.
There are book clubs in Grand Forks. Most often they meet in people's homes. An upcoming discussion of Salman Rushdie's book Midnight's Children might be of interest to you. This will be held Feb 19 at noon in the International Center and again on Feb 21 at 6:30 p.m. in the Barnes & Noble coffee shop. Salman Rushdie is speaking at the Great Conversations Series which is connected to UND's 125th Anniversary on Tuesday, March 25 at 7 p.m. in the Chester Fritz Auditorium. Rushdie will also appear on a panel during the Writers Conference on March 26. Book clubs have been invited to participate so you may find a group to join.
On the contrary, just today I mused about Olive Garden coming to GFKS; I've never had a bad meal there, not once in the half dozen years I've frequented the place! (Ditto for Red Lobster, of the same ownership.)
At the risk of being redundant, a Famous Dave's would also be most welcome. (Alas; Fargo beat us in capturing both places---but then, only now is our rival to the south getting a Golden Corral! Aargh.)
I would rather have a Jonny Carino's than Olive Garden. Compared to Jonny Carino's Olive Garden is crap
I know this story has to do with the bookstore discussion, but does anyone know when Denny's is opening? It looks like there is a lot of activity there, but it may be due to employee training.
Denny's is opening on Sunday. Check out Ryan Schuster's blog on areavoices.
Can someone help the girl get a Twinkie?
death to twinkies and ho-hos! long live golden cremes and swiss cake rolls.
LITTLE DEBBIE FO LIFE!!!!
Check today's Herald; factual article on Barnes and Noble's local location...
The campus Barnes and Noble seems to be getting worse all of the time. Every time I go back, it seems like they stock fewer and fewer books. I would love it if Powell's came to Grand Forks, but realistically the best we can hope for is a Borders. Finally, getting a nice bookstore wouldn't be such a big deal if we had a decent library. Fargo's new library system is going to be awesome, and that's something Grand Forks should consider.
I have to agree on the previous comment about the public library. It's horribly past due for a restoration. I think they offer a fair selection of materials, but the physical plant leaves a whole lot to be desired.
It wouldn't hurt if some of the old gals in there would add a smile to their responses, either.
Some hack from UND said the university has talked to Barnes & Noble about expanding its hours, but the business has not appeared to be there.
That's a load of crap...especially on nights preceding basketball and hockey games. I can't tell you how many people try the doors only to find them locked. Plus, if they won't try extended hours along with promotions to encourage patronage, how do they know it won't drive new biz?
I read the article and I must say it’s hard to gauge demand when you are never open.
The last fifteen years or so of data isn't sufficient?
Waldenbooks is hardly a new addition to the city. If they've said that performance there is any factor in a decision, the decision is already made.
Walden is not a recent addition to Grand Forks, but Borders has owned it exclusively only for the last eight or so years. The decision to turn them all in to Borders Express was made in late 2004, and also then many Walden locations were closed due to poor performance. Columbia Mall's Walden was not closed, but will be reformatted eventually. I don't think that they perform so well though that the company felt a Borders would thrive in the area.
If I were you guys, I would write a letter to the execs in Ann Arbor. George L. Jones is the President and CEO of Borders Group. The address is: 100 Phoenix Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
If I were still in GF
How about demolishing the old civic center and building a nice new library there. I agree about the new Fargo library. Last summer I got to go to the new library out in Bozeman, MT. Wow!! It is amazing, check this out:
http://www.bozemanlibrary.org/newlibrary.html
Grand Forks is working on doing something different with the library. It was in the Herald last year about them meeting and trying to decide the best options. It took Fargo a couple of years to decide what to do and some of that was done pretty recently. Check out EGF Campbell Library.
It would go to show that many bookstores rely on custommers and if they arent open, Customers will go to the bars for a few drinks and that educational or if the mood is right just run down to the palin brown rapper for some books and a movie.You can relax at the plain brown rapper and they have hours to serve any schedule. OH! you say I would never go there, you would be surprised just who cums to my bookstore. But I will not tell you it might just be your boyfirend or husband, brother, or you coworked at the office. Give it a try where else can the college guys go and not get their girlfrends with child. we are alway clean and ready for the next load of college guys and business men to drop a load on the floor.
Columbia mall bookstores may be small but they do carry a very good slection of books & mags.YOu can buy your reading and head to the food court and sit by the fireplace and read as long as you would like. Big stores are not always better as you can read about in this blog. Big stores do not think customer service they think smaller staff and longer lines to check out and only think of the money. Cloumbia Mall is doing it right with service and two book stores to look through and a place to go read, food court or even the coffee shop. Get to the mall.
Barnes and Noble has to wonder if they could make more money in Grand Forks. Longer hours would give the college kids a place to go. And the publice would go if they were open. The College must have to pay alot of cash to keep them.
Plain Brown Rapper comments are crap,
Gee, ya think?
Thanks for the info on the book meetings/clubs.
How about a southern outpost of Winnipeg bookstore McNally Robinson? They already have two large stores in Winnipeg, and outlets in Calgary, Saskatoon and NYC.
Maybe they can repeat the success of Canad Inns in exporting a Winnipeg-born concept to the GF market.
Here's something to ponder: If UND would give the new bookstore contract to someone else (like Dakota Textbook Co. parent Nebraska Textbook), that would mean B&N would be kicked out of their current location, and the new company would take over after remodeling. Would B&N build a new bookstore in town? The old Target spot in Columbia Mall would be about the right size, and it would be a great location.
anonymous - actually, it is the other way around. UND received over 700,000 dollars from B&N last year according to their lease
actually is is over 900,000...check it out on the bizz buzz blog
I agree, Lynsey. If B&N was no longer able to operate from campus, they would almost certainly build a regular B&N location somewhere else in town. The Target space would actually be too large for a regular B&N, but I suppose that the building could be divided and B&N could use a part of the space.
There are some pretty big B&N and Border's stores in the Twin Cities area, but none of them would come close to the square footage of the old Target location.
Personally I have both close to me, B&N at the Mall of America and a Border's in a strip mall just down I-494. I go to both, browse through there and definitely spend more time (and money) in them than I would in the bookstores at the Columbia Mall. They were always an in and out proposition. Not enough room to really browse through any books.
I can't tell you how excited I was about B&N opening in GF, . . .only to find that it was a total joke! Believe it or not, there are many of us how thing a Great Time is actually driving to Fargo, even in the winter, to spend hours in the B&N. And even though I should own stock in Amazon, there's nothing like meandering through real book aisles and pick up actual books in a brick and mortar store. One of the things that gets me excited about moving away from here some day is the idea of living in a town with an honest-to-God, REAL Book Store. (oh, be still, my beating heart!)
I have contacted both B&N and Borders regarding opening stores in Grand Forks. I think one will open - just don't know when. With all the restaurants and stores opening in Grand Forks, how could B&N and Borders not consider it?
James
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12% of every purchase goes back to UND at the College bookstore. That was the contract at one point. I am all in favor of a regular Barnes and Noble or a Borders or even a Chapters Bookstore.. I tend to shop in Fargo when I want to get stuff... mainly because they have a better selection and because I can use my teacher discount. I love used book stores too.. and sort of wish we'd open a Half Price Bookstore in North Dakota.. of course I wouldn't want to hurt The Book Fair, either.
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