The Borders bookstore in Davis recently put up the above signs along the shelves of their manga section. Apparently there is now a time limit of 10 minutes for reading manga. I didn’t attempt to test the system but I think it’s a “soft” limit. That is, Borders employees wandering around the store helping people might politely ask you to move along if they continually to see you sitting or standing there reading the same volume. I also didn’t bother to ask whether the 10 minutes starts over each time you pick up a different volume or an overall thing but I think it’s an overall period of time.
The timing of it coincides with the Christmas shopping season and the anticipation of more foot traffic, although I’m sure a number of complaints could have been another factor. Unlikely but still plausible. We’ll see if the signs stay up past January…
I want to know if this is an isolated phenomenon or if it’s happening across the country (or around the world). Has anyone else experienced a similar thing in their local bookstores recently? If so, is it limited to manga or do the advisories apply to the other sections as well?
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Yes, there’s a time limit for manga at our local Borders too. It was 30 min last I checked, but I haven’t been there in a while, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s 10 min now. It only seems to apply to manga, which makes sense. Normally, the thing lots of people including myself love about the bookstore is that you can take your time browsing books, and really read to decide if you like them enough to buy them. But manga changes things because it’s faster to read and mostly pictures, so they set limits otherwise people would sit there and read whole volumes without buying them. I’ve seen another non-Borders bookstore with a manga reading time limit, too.
Wow, I hope that happens at my local bookstore :D
The local Borders here indirectly imposes the limit: There is parking limit of 1 hour. At least this would apply to all customers.
Well I find it as a good idea. I rather not have penniless fools standing there reading whilst I’m trying to browse and buy my manga. If only Kinokuniya enforced such a policy.
I’d rather not have penniless fools who had no idea how to handle a book properly messing up the books I’d be interested in buying ^^;
sucks for all those penniless fools. =[
[...] PartTimeOtaku’s post about the Borders manga limits. Os’ reaction to the limit. [...]
[...] I have mixed feelings about this. Now, I’ve already confessed that I’m one of those people who go to Borders alot -sometimes even spending more time there than at home- to read free manga in my other “bookstore posts“. I justify this action to myself by saying that I always end up buying 1 volume of anything every other week or so anyways so either way, they’ll end up with my money. [...]
Bwah, I live in Davis too, and I noticed that the other day. Actually, I read manga for like half an hour before noticing the sign. Maybe the sign is intended for the kids who don’t buy stuff
WTF? You can actually read manga @ border’s? Every one of them i’ve been in lately has ALL manga wrapped in plastic that’s a pain to get off even after you’ve bought the damn thing. I live in cali, dont know if that’s only here that they do it.
Oh, and yes, this is only manga that they wrap in plastic so that you cant even browse through it. There’s always plenty of adults parked reading magazines and regular books.
I’d never heard of that before! As both a person who works in a bookstore (to be clear, not Borders) and one of those who goes and reads them at Borders (hehehe), I think it’s ridiculous. I wonder if it is just meant to keep people from camping out in the aisles (which I do sympathize with). If you actually picked up the manga and found a proper place to sit, would they time you? If you took it over to the cafe and bought something? Really, though, I know Borders has made a heck of a lot of money off of me that they would not have made if I didn’t hang out there to read manga. Oh well, I’ll admit I’m still not really happy about reading books without buying them. Maybe if it becomes a regular deal, then enough fans will turn to the libraries who will start picking up more manga and then I can just check them out and read them in the comfort of my own home :)