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| Stuart Burnett, General Manager of Borders, dreams of opening a bookstore in Redmond |
For years, Borders was part of many Redmonites lives. Especially on rainy days, Borders was always there for us, to warm up, browse for a good book or magazine, have a cup of coffee, or rest in a good chair. Borders was a significant gathering place for our community and similar the Top Food's closure, will be sadly missed.
Stuart Burnett, the dismissed General Manager of Borders/Redmond and a 43-year native of Redmond, had the same nostalgic words for his past employer. Read More >>
After eight years of service with Borders and three years as the store manager Mr. Burnett now works for the liquidator. But, he loves books and Redmond and has no plans to leave town. In fact, he is excited about the prospects of opening his own book store in Redmond. Stuart said: "I know the business of selling books and know the people and demographics of Redmond" and went on, "the publishing business model has changed. Barnes and Noble will probably be next."
Between "ca-chinks" and customer questions, Stuart shared some of his life in Redmond. Born in 1968, he spent his family childhood years living on Lake Sammamish by Tompson Hill. He was in the first graduating classes of both Mead Elementary and Evergreen Junior High. Stuart fondly remembers the ribbon-cutting ceremony of SR520 and being one of the first to drive it. He recalled "A property owner where Target is located was holding up the extension." Stuart enjoyed the Redmond golf course. Years ago, he gained valuable business experience running a flower store in Kirkland.
Back to the ca-chinks: Burnett apologized for confusion over the gift card sales, explaining the remaining stores were almost bought by Najufi but the deal fell through at the last minute on Wednesday. He said the bankruptcy sale will go on for 60 days with progressive discounts. Current hot deals are 40% off the magazine rack and multi-media games. Many genres have 30% tags. Are you going to miss this place?
Reported / Photo by Yoder
I definitely will miss the Borders Bookstore. I agree that it has been a big community asset.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame!
Border's was my go-to place to buy last minute gifts, as well as to peruse books to buy for my very steady reading habit. You can't do either of these things effectively at Amazon.com. I also really liked how Border's organized books, and highlighted prize winners, etc, making it easy for me to identify high quality reading material. Again, not something one finds on Amazon.com. I hope a new bookstore in Redmond will be able to provide these options.
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