What's the Game selection like at Borders?

[poormojo]

Heya,

I have a Borders gift card, and just found out that a bunch of their stores carry games. One of the stores is an hour drive from my house, so I'm not really in a rush to make the trip. But, I was wondering if anyone knew what their selection was like? How their prices were? Had any experiences with them?

Thanks.

[OntheDL]

That's not where I'd go for games. Gift card or not.

Is it really that horrible to imagine buying a <gasp> book?

[Wshakspear]

...i wish my borders carried games. Ive got enough books. Im in both Book and Video game debt (let alone trying to learn japanese).

Anyways, i have been to a few local (MI) borders and have not seen a single video game. If its anything like thier cd collection, itll be overpriced and what you could pick up anywhere

[OntheDL]

How much is the gift card for?

[poormojo]

Well, uh, I kind of have way too many books as it is. I used to manage a Borders that didn't carry games, and I used my discount nearly every damn day.

I have tons of books. Every room of my apartment has 2 bookshelves in it. Even one of closets has a bookshelf in it.

If there was a CheapAssBooklover.com, I'd be there.

The gift card is for $80.00 or so. And I'm just more interested in buying a game right now, than I am in buying a book. Even willing to pay a little bit more to Borders in the process.

[danh920]

can you use the card online? I went to their site and it appears that they're teamed up with amazon, similiar to toys r us

[daphatty]

None of the Borders i've been to carried games... Game Strategy Guides or books about making games are as close to a video game I think you are going to get...

[poormojo]

Confirmation that they carry games

1/22/2004


Dear Morgan,

Thank you for writing to Borders to ask about video games.

I'm very sorry that your earlier email wasn't answered. I'm not sure
what happened. I've checked our records and can't find the other email,
so it must not have gone through for some reason. I'm sorry for any
inconvenience that it may have caused you. Here is a list of the
California stores that sell video games:

1360 Westwood Boulevard
Westwood
310-475-3444

588 Francisco Blvd, West
San Rafael
415-454-1400

3700 Torrance Blvd
Torrance
310-540-7000

1415 Third Street Promenade
Santa Monica
310-393-9290

4575 Rosewood Drive
Pleasanton
925-227-1412

900 State Street
Santa Barbara
805-899-3668

7722 N. Blackstone Avenue
Fresno
559-435-5501

9301 Tampa Avenue
Northridge
818-886-5443

2825 Santa Rosa Avenue
Santa Rosa
707-569-0991

120 Crescent Drive
Pleasant Hill
925-686-4835

14651 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks
818-728-6593

6081 Center Dr, Suite 118
Westchester
310-215-3720

120 Sunset Dr
San Ramon
925-830-1190

7000 Marketplace Ave
Goleta
805-968-1370

241 W. Esplanade Drive
Oxnard
805-988-6886

I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if you have any
other questions or comments.

Sincerely,

Patrick
Borders Customer Care
http://www.bordersstores.com

[Spiritseed]

The Prices are horrible every game they have is 49.99 to 54.99, including ones that are selling for 9.99 now, Not a cheapass place.

[guessed]

The Prices are horrible every game they have is 49.99 to 54.99, including ones that are selling for 9.99 now, Not a cheapass place.

That is pretty much what I would have expected. I was at one the other night -- no games, but the DVD prices were insane. Discs that I've bought/seen for $10 at other places were about $24.

[poormojo]

The funny thing is, is that the DVDs at Borders are often like the games at Circuit City. When I was managing the one here in SF we'd get a big-ass list of between fifty and five hundred DVDs to mark down each week, but we had no man power to actually do this. So the DVDs are often way cheaper than they are marked.

Ask an employee to key in the BINC number (which is the Borders specific product code) to find out the real price. This HAS to be done at the registers, too, as the Information PCs draw from a different database that has incorrect prices.

I once found a history of R&B boxed CD set for $1.00 this way.

try checking online, too, at www.bordersstores.com. They may not honor the pricing listed there, but it gives you a better idea. Unfortunately, no games are listed on the website, since they are a test program.

[YoshiFan1]

The Borders near me does have a budget game rack with some $19.99 games but most games I recall being priced at $49.99

[dragonfireflys]

My experience with borders is that the dvds are the price that they are marked (I've never had circuit city moments at borders).

I'd assume all games are at least 50 bucks if not more...

[erniecars]

It turns out you can go to www.toysrus.com and use the borders card at checkout since the amazon, borders, and toysrus site are all the same company. I picked up Smash Bros that way a while back!

[Murcielago77]

sup my bay area homie. and the game selection sucks at Borders. The one in san rafael has a little rack with like 10-15 games on it. I can only remember Final Fantasy X-2 though and it all costs like 19.99(GH) or 49.99

[poormojo]

Thank you my BayArea Brother.

And, just to clarify with the prices at Borders, since the prices are coded into the Borders price tags, you won't have a "circuit city moment" which is why you need to tear the price tag in half before going up to the register. If they manually key in the product code (BINC number, in the lingo) it will actually check the POS server for the coorect price, thereby locating many hidden deals.

And also, Borders and Amazon and Toys R Us are not teh same company. Borders and TRU contract with Amazon for their web stuff, and give AMazon close to wholesale prices on their products. Everyone makes money.

[Theenternal]

Yea boarders has games, but they are expensive. However they may have expensive titles likes REZ, Suikoden 2, since no one goes their to buy games. If you don't see anything you really like, why don't you just sell the card on ebay? Or try to sell it to someone in the store at a lower price?

[crispx07]

They have strategy guides at normal prices ($10-$15).

[MauMauProductions]

I got my Suikoden II guide there :-D

[erniecars]

And also, Borders and Amazon and Toys R Us are not teh same company. Borders and TRU contract with Amazon for their web stuff, and give AMazon close to wholesale prices on their products. Everyone makes money.

This is true but you can still use a borders gift card to pay for an order from the Toys R Us website since its basically the same website, just another section. Therefore, you can purchase anytihng Toys R Us carries on their website with the borders gift card.