Borders is expected to file for bankruptcy this week, according to The Wall Street Journal, and will likely be forced to close one third of its 674 stores. Borders pioneered the kind of large, supermarket-style bookstores that popped up across the U.S. during the '90s, but it failed to change its business model to adapt to the online and e-book markets. Borders' troubles have analysts wondering about the future of the brick-and-mortar bookstore. Is this the beginning of the end? (Watch a report about Borders' bankruptcy)
Yes, and we should be worried: What a "sad day" for our children, says an editorial in Britain's Daily Express. As our digital world makes the traditional bookstore an antique, we ought to be wary of a culture "in which the younger generation has no real access to the written word." Can we really be sure our children's literacy skills won't be affected by this?
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