Borders' CEO: Retail as Theater

Many of us thought Borders had missed the boat on e-commerce by hitching its Internet wagon to Amazon.com. CEO George Jones asked for that relationship to be severed when he arrived at Borders in 2006. Two years later, a fully independent Borders.com launched this summer, with multimedia features and a built-in loyalty program with 28 million customers.

Jones spoke to Shop.org’s Vahe Katros about how his experience at Warner Brothers informs his view of Borders as an entertainment destination. Borders’ new concept stores include digital kiosks that are meant for “technophobes.” Not everybody knows you can make books on Lulu or custom photo albums on Shutterfly, Jones argues, so why not port that product off the Internet and bring it into the face-to-face retail arena, which attract 250 million customer visits every year?

Similarly, a small range of electronic gadgets is designed to pique the curiosity of people who wouldn’t be likely to browse a Best Buy or even an Apple Store. “It’s a place they discover something,” Jones says of customers — whether it’s a book or a new travel destination.