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So I went by what used to be the HUGE Borders store near my office, and it's now a Crown Books. They've used a makeshift wall of bookshelves to block off the former Starbucks area and, oddly, the entire rear half of the store. I can understand that the side space of former Starbucks can be formally partitioned and leased out by Westfield as a separate retail operation - but there's nothing Westfield can do with the rear half of a giant space that has no access to the public throroughfare. Very strange.
And they managed to take what was a very upscale Borders location and, without adding anything new of their own, use the leftover fixtures and furnishings to create a decidedly downscale, totally schlocky shopping environment. (And, hahaha, all the "BORDERS" etchings on the windows have had the BS removed, and now read "ORDER.")
Sadly, a very unique and fantastic bookstore, Brentano's, was closed just downstairs from the Borders when it opened about 5 years ago. So now we're left with a really crappy Crown Books that is 30 steps down in quality from Brentano's. Bah.
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