January 5th, 2007 
AstroNerdBoy Well, I finally have School Rumble #4, KageTora #4, and Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE CHARACTer GuiDE. I had planned to pick them up from Borders since I had a coupon to get them for a decent price. However, Borders irritated me to no end by not having manga in stock when the release dates hit. What the smeg is up with that? I worked in the bookstore business for years back in the 90’s when I was paying for my book habit. I know how things work. Granted, we didn’t have manga back then, but we did have books with shelf dates and new books were on the shelf on time.
And it wasn’t just a single Borders. It was two Borders and a Waldenbooks in a 20-mile radius. From what they were saying, other stores didn’t have them yet either.
Now, we recently had massive snow storms in Colorado, so had this been the first time this had happened, I would understand. However, for the past several manga titles I’ve wanted to pick up over the last six weeks, they either don’t have the manga on the shelf or it is still in transit. That’s no way to run a business, I can assure you.
So I decided to order them elsewhere. However, the post office decided to hold the package in Denver for about five days for some odd reason. Granted, some of those days were for New Years and President Ford’s funeral, but it should have been here the Saturday before, and Wednesday at the latest. GAH!
Well, I’ve got them now and I look forward to reading them. Eventually, I’ll have some reviews for them on Amazon’s website to be voted up or down. ^_^
In other blog news, I should finish reviewing the 2nd half of volume 9 of xxxHOLiC by morning and get that posted for you guys. Then, I really have to get Honey and Clover finished seeing as how I only have a couple more episodes to watch.
Update: I’ve posted a review at Amazon for School Rumble volume 4. ‘Tain’t one of my better ones, but click the image above and you can vote it up or down as you please. ^_^;
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I just saw your rant re: Borders and their in stock/not in stock nightmare. This is a common occurance. I work for a Borders Experess and the Manga section is my primary section. (note – Borders Express & Waldenbooks are the same stores, Borders is changing the Waldens over unless they are next to a Borders.) Borders Express and Waldenbooks still use the Waldenbooks distributors, Borders has their own system. Both systems are in major disarray. BE/WB changed up things this summer to get better delivery for all books but for the Manga it’s only gotten worse. Only DEL RAY releases their titles per the street date policies. All the others may come in 1-2 weeks before or after their “release date”. (another note – Usually we get the Del Ray SD about a week beforehand but since Nov. they’ve been about a week late – I blame the holidays.) The only way I can get new releases is by having a list and checking to see if the warehouse has them, then special order them into the store (My boss wants to kill me for doing it but they all sell so they can’t say anything). Most series I get only (1) copy and that’s it so it’s hard to keep stock in not only for the regulars, but myself as well. (School Rumble is a series I have to SPO for the regulars as well as myself – and that is why I have commented on this, sorry for the length.)
Thanks for the info (and don’t worry about the length). I used to work for B. Dalton, which had Barns & Nobles do to us what Borders is doing to Waldenbooks. Anyway, it is a shame that the manga isn’t getting the treatment it deserves in the store. Sure, I can order it online, but I had wanted to support a local business and it is difficult to do so the way things are set up. After all, if I have to special order something, I may as well just go online.
Thanks again for the info! ^_^