Syosset Reacts to Borders Closing

News that will be liquidated and shut down didn’t sit well with some loyal Syosset customers Tuesday afternoon.

The store, which filed for bankruptcy protection back in February, will start shutting down stores as early as Friday as a widely-reported deal to save the store fell through.

Adam Winnick, a Mineola resident, said he knows the Syosset area well and shops about once a week at Borders – not their main rival, Barnes & Noble.

“I just think they have more deals,” Winnick said of Borders. “They have great deals on books, CDs, note cards.”

Winnick said he will now do his shopping at Barnes & Noble, not Amazon or other websites, because he “likes to see the book” and prefers to read it beforehand. He said he will also miss the “great customer service" at Borders.

“Everybody’s been helpful,” he said.

Christine Scully and Tim Butler, two former Borders employees and current school teachers, were shopping for deals in Syosset Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s sad – it’s a good place,” said Scully, who worked at another location for five years. “They always had good coupons for kids' stuff. We’re definitely going to miss it.”

Loyal customer Jill Werblin has been coming to the Syosset location since it opened.

“I’ll probably go to those stores now,” Werblin said of Barnes & Noble.

Dan Vogelsberg, currently a bookseller at the Syosset Borders, has worked for the company since 1998 in various locations, from college and now as a substitute teacher. Vogelsberg wondered what more could have been done to save the company.

“It wasn’t just one thing – it was changes in technology, the economy itself, experiments that didn’t pay off,” he said. “I also kind of wish the people in charge where there five years ago. They’re trying there best to take care of people here now. “

Vogelsberg recalled hearing about the news on Monday.

“I was just really upset,” Vogelsberg said. “Not just for myself, but for other employees. This place has been home, for so many people.”