Big-Box Bookstores Go Belly-Up! Is Bad Design to Blame?

We were sad to learn—via an “Everything Must Go!” e-mail—that our trusty Manhattan Borders is among the “underperforming” stores that will be shuttered as part of the embattled bookseller’s reorganization. The 40-year-old chain filed for bankruptcy last week, a development that prompted much pontificating. While many pointed to e-books and Amazon [cut to shot of a laughing Jeff Bezos setting a pile of paperbacks ablaze], Tyler Brûlé found a smoking gun amidst the bricks and mortar: poor store design.