INSIDE SCOOP
COMMENTARY
PARENTING
RECYCLING CHRISTMAS SPIRIT PAGE 3 TAKING THAT LEAP OF FAITH PAGE 5 BABY NAMING DRAMA PAGE 6
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2008
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Volume 7 Issue 351
Santa Monica Daily Press DEFENSE TO PLAY BIG ROLE IN BOWL SEE PAGE 10
Since 2001: A news odyssey
THE GOODBYE BORDERS ISSUE
Borders moves out of promenade BY MELODY HANATANI Daily Press Staff Writer
PROMENADE A giant yellow banner hangs
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down the window of Borders, stopping passers by in their tracks, each doing a double take before walking inside. Adjacent is a smaller red sign affixed to the door, informing all who enter that the long-time fixture on the Third Street Promenade will soon be leaving for good. “To our valued customers, this store will be closing,” the sign stated. “We have enjoyed serving you.” Ann Arbor-based Borders Group Inc., which owns more than 1,100 stores under the Borders and Waldenbooks brands, announced recently that it will close the Santa Monica location on Jan. 10, among a handful of locations across the country that will see a similar fate, including in Cincinnati and Sacramento. “We look at our stores periodically to see how they’re doing and during the review, we really realized that we have several other Borders stores within a 15-mile-radius,” Mary Davis, spokeswoman for Borders Group Inc., said. “We determined that the remaining stores really do meet the needs of the community and therefore we didn’t feel we needed this location any longer.” The nearest Borders is located in Westwood. The bookstore opened at 1415 Third Street Promenade in July of 1995, taking up roughly 29,100 square feet over three stories, housing a collection of books, CDs and DVDs and gift items. There are 44 employees at the store, all of whom will have the option of working at another location. Most items in the store were marked down
LAST CHANCE: Customers enter the Borders bookstore on the Third Street Promenade Monday morning during their "out of business" sale. Executives with Borders said the location was not performing as well as nearby stores and decided to close up shop. The last day the store will be open is Jan. 10.
SEE BORDERS PAGE 8
Hollywood’s happy, even without a record year BY DAVID GERMAIN Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES Hollywood loves breaking box-office records, yet studio executives aren’t griping that their 2008 lineup will fall a bit shy of the all-time high set a year earlier. With the overall economy in the pits, movie moguls are just glad to have weath-
ered the year with faithful audiences that continued to crowd into theaters. “Last year was the record of all time. The economy’s tough. Things are bad out there, and I think if we can have another recordbreaking year or close to it, I figure we’ll all be happy,” said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., which released the year’s biggest hit with “The Dark Knight” ($531 million).
Through New Year’s Eve, 2008 domestic revenues are expected to come in just shy of 2007’s record of $9.7 billion, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers. Factoring in inflation, the actual number of tickets sold in 2008 is running 5 percent behind last year’s, when admissions totaled 1.4 billion. Hollywood historically survives recessions better than many businesses because
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movies remain relatively cheap compared with sporting events, live theater and other forms of entertainment. While consumer belt-tightening no doubt costs studios some cash, the list of 2008 blockbusters is a sign of a healthy business delivering the goods across every genre. With a $158.4 million debut, the Batman SEE HOLLYWOOD PAGE 9
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