Find Any Good Deals at the Borders Liquidation Sale?

Honestly, I rarely bought much at Borders in the past. The retailer’s high prices were simply not competitive with online merchants like Amazon, even after coupon discounts. (I guess that’s one of the reasons why the chain’s going out of business, huh?) But now that all stores are liquidating inventory, I’ve finally been able to find some reasonable deals on Blu-ray discs. Has anyone else been taking advantage of Borders’ misfortune?

All of the Borders stores I’ve been to recently have marked Blu-rays down 40% off MSRP. (Strangely, DVDs are only marked down 20%.) Even a couple of weeks into the liquidation, I’ve been able to find some pretty decent titles left on store shelves. Discs I’ve bought recently include ‘Amélie‘, ‘Brazil‘, ‘The Fantastic Mr. Fox‘, ‘Grease‘ (bought for the Mrs.), ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus‘, ‘Insomnia‘, and ‘Piranha 3D‘. I also bought one DVD: ‘G.I. Joe Resolute’.

While searching for other 3D fodder, I also found ‘The Polar Express 3D‘. I debated that one, but ultimately left it on the shelf. Even though I’m eager for more 3D eye candy, I just don’t like the movie enough to own a copy of it. Frankly, its soulless CGI cretins really creep me out.

What bargains have you found at Borders?

18 comments

  1. The prices start so high that most of the time even 40% off doesn’t make it a good deal. For example, I saw a blu-ray copy of The Proposal priced at $44.99! Most were cheaper but this one struck me as a great example of MSRP gone wild.

    • EM

      Agreed. The going-out-of-business sale that a local Borders had a few months ago had heavily marked-down prices that were so high that they seemed to explain why the store was going out of business.

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      MSRP is set by the manufacturer, not the retailer. Most of the time, MSRP includes a high mark-up. Even so, (aside from Apple products) it’s just a *suggested* retail price. Merchants like Amazon generally discount 20-30% off MSRP as a matter of course, which has pretty much made buying anything at the MSRP a thing of the past for most consumers. Except at Borders, which always charged full MSRP. The chain never adapted to the current market realities, and couldn’t stay competitive.

      40% off MSRP is a pretty good deal. That’s a better price than you’ll find at Amazon, which usually tops out at a 30-35% discount from MSRP. I think it’s worth checking out.

      • My local Boarders has been getting rid of inventory for months. I doubt there is anything decent left. I have been hitting up Blockbusters that were going out of business, but by the time they put up the signs, usually all that is left is 50 copies of My Sister’s Keeper, 20 of Spiderwick Chronicles, and few DVDs such as Secret to My Success. Oh and shelves. You can buy all the shelving you want.

        I rarely went to Boarders. I went to get the 6th and 7th Harry Potter books there at the midnight releases, but other than that, it was just a place to walk around. I agree with the others – their prices are so high, that even 40% off makes them higher than other places. I do all my book and movie shopping at Amazon and Half Price Books. Half-Price is great on older stuff, its always half the price of whatever is listed on the cover. You can get some great deals on some 50s and 60s paperbacks!

  2. Geez. The Salt Lake City locations closed MONTHS ago. I hit ’em up twice. Debated getting ‘Rachel Getting Married’ for $8, but grabbed ‘Moon’ for $10. Also grabbed a Phish concert DVD for my brother for $10.

  3. I waited and waited for the location next to me to get their prices down where I thought they were reasonable, but all that was left were about 12 copies of ‘Jennifer’s Body’.

  4. I picked up the bluray of 25th Anniversary GOONIES.
    It started at $35 same price as FYE.
    After tax I believe it was $20

    Did not see any other great deals.

    For deals I usualy hit up FYE for their used DVD/Bluray. Was able to pick up Alvin and the Chipmunks on BLU yesterday for $3.64 after a 30% off coupon I had.
    It is funny to see a NEW Disney Bluray there for $45 and the used one next to it for $7.99

    • About 2 years ago, Suncoast went out of business. Everything was half price. Well, they sold used Blu-Rays. 2 years ago, I was picking up fairly new movies for $5-$10 each. Some things, though, I still am asking myself why I picked it up. I think I just opened the Hannah Montanna Best Of Both Worlds discs to get the glasses out of it, and I think I watched about 5 minutes of it, because it was the first concert Blu-Ray I saw. Of course, turned it off almost immediately – Miley Cyrus really annoyed the hell out of me.

      But yeah, I got Alvin and the Chipmunks for like $5, Sleeping Beauty for like $8, etc. I think I picked up about 20 movies that day.

      • FYE had a Hannah Montana bluray for $2.00 I believe. Not even worth it at 30% off that 🙂

        BORDERS is now 50% off Blu and 25% off DVD.
        Think I may go check out the huge Wizard Of OZ bluray set with the watch. Should be about $30 I figure.

  5. Josh Zyber
    Author

    According to a new email distribution from Borders, Blu-rays are now 50% off and stores will be restocking with new inventory from the warehouses.

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      Went to Borders on my lunch break. They’ve increased the Blu-ray mark-down to 50%, but it doesn’t appear that they’ve restocked any. The store is fairly decimated, actually. I did manage to find a copy of Branagh’s Hamlet that I missed on the last pass, however.

  6. Mary

    Guess you people didn’t know that every single week Borders had coupons that ranged from 25%-50$ off a book. They were always all over the Web. You just had to sign up for a free membership to use the best ones. So sad that nobody seemed to know what great deals they had.

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      I think that was really a failing of the store’s that, even when it offered discounts, it limited them only to members of its Rewards program. Yes, it was easy enough for anyone to join, but this still fostered the perception that the store had high prices. Anyone walking in off the street to browse would see everything marked at full MSRP and not know about the discounts. Whereas a retailer like Amazon discounts everything up front for everyone.

      My wife was a member of the Rewards program. When it comes to movies, most of the coupons we got were typically only 10% off. 10% off MSRP is practically an insult. That barely covers sales tax.

  7. Josh Zyber
    Author

    The Borders near my office restocked some inventory from the warehouse. I found a few good deals, like Collateral and Broken Embraces for $12.49 each, Much Ado About Nothing for $9.99, and From Hell for $8.49. (Yeah, I like that one. What of it?)

  8. I went tonight and bought Fantastic Mr. Fox, Crazy Heart, and Fight Club.

    I could have saved 5 or 6 dollars by going online for them but still enjoy the “walk out w/ merchadice” feeling.

    Bestbuy had Saturday Night Fever for 10 bucks.

    I’m thinking that the Fantasia 4 disc collection might be my next purchase.