Barnes and Noble plans to save itself from inevitable death by “expanding its offerings of toys, games, gadgets and other gifts and reshaping the nation’s largest bookstore chain into a ‘lifestyle brand.’” Eh. Gawker readers once suggested “Turn them into bars,” which seems more likely to succeed.

William Lynch, the CEO of Barnes & Noble, resigned this week after less than two years on the job, having failed to turn around the earnings of the Last Remaining Book Store by selling color tablets. So, uh... anybody have any other ideas? For making money?

The national book store chain Borders folded in 2011, leaving Barnes & Noble as the undisputed king of Big Huge Chain Bookstores. In that specific industry, B&N has had no competition for the past year and a half. Yet they are preparing to downsize anyhow. The Big Huge Chain Bookstore golden era has passed.

Borders, America's second biggest book store chain, died this summer, its red-trimmed outlets sinking inexorably into a savage sea of red ink. (Beat that lede, Wall Street Journal!) For Barnes & Noble, the most popular book chain, this could be interpreted as good news: its biggest competitor was gone. Or, bad news: book stores are a dying industry.

And now it's done: after teetering on the edge of oblivion for months, once-mighty book chain Borders has announced that it is liquidating.

Reddish book chain Borders went bankrupt earlier this year, and it looks like the "anything but books" revitalization plan hasn't panned out. We could be living in the last few days of Borders' existence, ever.

You think the owner of that book store doesn't know what you're doing? Oh, they know exactly what you're doing. You say you "love" books? You say you enjoy perusing the soothing aisles of a book store, so lovingly curated by a book store owner who spends his or her life ensuring that the very latest and most interesting book selections are there, presented for you in the most interesting possible way? You like that a lot? Yeah. So you can go home and order that shit online. Fuckers.

Liberty Media, the owner of QVC and a random assortment of other media crap, has put in a billion-dollar bid for Barnes & Noble. What does a media conglomerate want with a book store, these days?

Crimson-hued book retailer Borders went bankrupt a month ago, after many long months of financial decline. It's cause people don't buy stuff at book stores any more, you see.

Borders filed its long-expected bankruptcy yesterday. Hundreds of its stores will be closing in the next few weeks. Besides Borders employees, two other groups are worried: book publishers, and mall owners.

As expected, second-tier book chain Borders filed for bankruptcy today, after a last-ditch effort at a lifesaving loan failed. The company now says it will be closing 30% of its stores—nearly 200 locations—over the next several weeks. But...but what about my gift card?

Faltering book chain Borders, which has been on a financial death watch for weeks, will file for bankruptcy next week, after failing to get a lifesaving loan. "Borders initially plans to close about 200 of its 674 stores." Initially. [WSJ]

When we last checked in with dinosaurlike "book store" Borders, it was desperately seeking a loan to stave off bankruptcy. Well, they got their $550 million loan! But there's a fair chance they'll still go bankrupt. Showing good effort! [Dealbook]

When we last checked in with second-place book chain Borders, the company was teetering on the edge of financial doom. And now? Borders is gazing into the abyss, preparing to jump.

Just last month, the book chain Borders was being touted as a possible buyer of Barnes & Noble. Today, Borders itself is struggling to survive. How bad is it? Let's roll the most recent low-lights.

Barnes & Noble's mustachioed chairman Leonard Riggio defeated Ron Burkle's vigorous battle to wrangle control of the failing bookseller's board. Riggio will now return to supervising the company's descent into nothingness. [WSJ. Pic: AP]

Billionaire Clinton pal Ron Burkle is trying to get his model-caressing paws on Barnes and Noble, the bookstore where you love to sit right on the carpet and read, which is gross. Anyhow. B&N says Burkle will "destroy"(!) it.

The Strand, the humongous New York bookstore by Union Square that is like one of the biggest used book stores ever of all time, has always attracted lots of young workers who take the low pay in exchange for the cool factor of working at the place, and the chance to be around books all day. One negative: the store is run by a despised woman named Nancy Bass Wyden (trivia: she's married to Oregon Senator Ron Wyden). I've known several people who worked at The Strand, and they universally agree on her tyranny. Now, the New York Press has actually done some investigative work on the claims, and it's found evidence for allegations of racial discrimination, callous disregard for pregnant women, and—most terrifyingly—"fungus from rats."