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A look at my local e-reader stores

I thought it would be interesting today to show you the 4 stores within driving distance where I can buy ereaders (Walmart, Staples, Target, and Borders). I’m skipping B&N becuase the closest one is nearly an hour away, and I’m sorry but it’s not worth a drive. 

First up is Wal-mart. (I’ve shown you this one before, actually.) Their in store display is a 4′ section with 2 the Nooks and the Kobo Wifi. It really doesn’t live up to their online selection (about 20 models). As you can see, the display models are behind glass. This really defeats the purpose of a display, doesn’t it?

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Next we have Target and Staples. They only carry the Kindle, and they have basically the same display: device, gift cards, and M-Edge cases (they make good cases). Staples went so far as to give the Kindle an end cap right in front of the register, which will definitely get a lot of attention. Unfortunately, the demo unit doesn’t actually work. It runs through a demo reel and that’s it. Again, that rather defeats the purpose display model.

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You’ve probably seen Borders before, but they’ve expanded their selection since then. I’m not sure what they plan to do when all the affiliated ereaders are available They’re already running out of room.

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Best Buy has the best display. My local store has the ereader area near the entrance the devices on little islands. I couldn’t get a good picture (it was missing some display units, too), so let me show you the one Mike Cane took. It shows an impressive number of display models as well as the biggest selection of ereaders.

You obviously can’t tell from the photo, but my store had displays for the Nook, Kindle, all 3 Sony models (this was empty), Pandigital Novel, Sharper Image Literati, as well as a couple of niche ereaders like Leapster and Mibook. There were also gift cards for Sony, B&N, and Amazon (so you could buy ebooks).

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Comments


Mike Cane November 3, 2010 um 10:12 am

Oy, you lout! That final photo is mine without credit! Tch!

Nate the great November 3, 2010 um 10:23 am

I mentioned it was yours. Just a second and I’ll add a link.

Mike Cane November 3, 2010 um 10:33 am

I must have read too fast or was blinded by the photo being there. I wasn’t screaming at ya. Thought it hugely funny, in fact. I wondered how many photos you had that you wound up mistaking one of mine for yours.


Zigwalski November 3, 2010 um 3:43 pm

I have two BnN stores near me. One has a nice display unit with two Nooks. The other BnN has several tables in an area and about 12 Nooks on display. I am sure some of these are going to be replaced by Color Nooks when they have supplies of them.

I also have two Borders near me. Both have the same tables like you display. One of them keeps them very nice and clean looking. The other is a jumbled mess. The display cards are suppose to be under the Plexiglas sign holder but one keeps the cards above it. They have already lost some and are in poor shape.

Best Buy near me has done a fairly decent job. They have non working demos of the Pandigital Novel and that Sharper Image reader.

My Walmart is the same as yours but they are selling the wireless Kobo for 129. Ten dollars less than Borders.


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