Citing a projected inability to keep up with future operating costs, Borderlands Books has announced it will close “no later than March 31st” of this year. From the Borderlands’ blog:

At the beginning of 2014, the future of the business looked, if not rosy, at least stable and very positive.  We were not in debt, sales were meeting expenses and even allowing a small profit, and, perhaps most importantly, the staff and procedures at both the bookstore and the cafe were well established and working smoothly.

So it fills us with sorrow and horror to say that we will be closing very soon.

The blog post pegs the inability of Borderlands to set the price of its books as the main culprit behind the closure. This is because unlike the cafe attached to the bookstore, which will remain open for the foreseeable future, Borderlands is unable to determine the price of the product it sells. Again, from the Borderlands’ blog:

 The cafe side of Borderlands, for example, should have no difficulty at all.  Viability is simply a matter of increasing prices.  And, since all the other cafes in the city will be under the same pressure, all the prices will float upwards.  But books are a special case because the price is set by the publisher and printed on the book. 

Having established that Borderlands is unable to raise the price of its books in order to offset increased operating costs, the announcement still then frustratingly moves to cast blame on the voter approved increase to the minimum wage. Stating that while Borderlands “support[s] the concept of a living wage in principal […] Borderlands Books as it exists is not a financially viable business if subject to” the 2018 minimum wage.

The San Francisco minimum wage, which currently sits at $11.05 per hour, is set to follow the path taken by Seattle and incrementally increase to $15.00 per hour by 2018. Borderlands goes on to state that although the “effects of the increasing minimum wage won’t be felt for a while,” closing now just “makes better business sense.” 

It should be noted that while the planned closure appears final, a February 12th, 7pm meeting will be held at the cafe to discuss any “alternatives to closing the store.”

[Photo: bubbletea1]