The last Borders Group stores are closing their doors this month, and the company is selling its intellectual property. We haven't heard about the disposition of the contents of company headquarters. Assuming there is an auction or sale, we at Shelf Awareness hereby put dibs on our top 10 most-wanted items from the Ann Arbor offices:
- Merchandising manuals from Jewel-Osco and Hickory Farms.
- Photograph of Borders CEO Greg Josefowicz and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos shaking hands at ceremony marking Amazon's takeover of Borders online business.
- Copies of Bookselling for Dummies.
- Unopened containers of black ink.
- The 10-lb. "Manual of Category Management" (with accompanying cases of Advil).
- Prototype of the cigarette kiosk for Borders stores in former chairman Bennett LeBow's office.
- Gold-plated fixtures and marble from special bathroom built exclusively for Bill Ackman's use during his visits to headquarters.
- Cheat sheet for executives taking the Borders prospective employee book knowledge test.
- TRS-80 computers with network cables.
- Taxi company cards for visitors to call to get a ride to far end of parking lot.