Borders Books & Music last month unveiled a new concept store highlighted by a multitude of digital experiences.

The first store to feature the prototype opened on Feb. 22 in Borders' hometown of Ann Arbor, MI. The company plans to open 13 more in 2008, including a Las Vegas unit debuting in April and seven others in May. The 28,900-square-foot store, which is larger than the chain's average 25,000-square-foot superstore, varies both in format and featured departments.

While staple areas remain, such as the Seattle's Best Coffee cafe (now with additional outdoor seating) and the Paperchase stationery department, the new design places greater emphasis on the "destination" departments that are most popular with shoppers. These include special areas dedicated to travel, cooking, wellness, children and graphic novels, along with a digital center.

The digital center has usurped a majority of the former music department, carrying a downsized inventory of product and a large amount of technological services. (Borders alluded to the change in its year-end financial release, reporting a decline in music sales and a plan to "reallocate floor space" accordingly.)

Services in the digital center consist of:

• Borders Digital Music, which enables shoppers to burn CDs and download music to digital music players from the chain's music library.
   
• Personal Publishing, a service powered by the Lulu.com digital marketplace. Shoppers can publish their own books and register for an International Standard Book Number (ISBN).
   
• Genealogy Searches. A partnership with Ancestry.com lets shoppers search that company's website from kiosks or sign up for an Ancestry.com subscription.
   
• Downloadable Digital Audiobooks, which Borders claims is the first "audiobook download service in a physical retail environment." The retailer offers approximately 15,000 titles.
   
• Custom Photo Books, an area where shoppers can digitally create and personalize photo albums that will be shipped to them upon completion.
   
• Photo Printing, where shoppers can print photos from a digital camera.

Borders also is merchandising products related to the services, including digital cameras and photo frames, GPS devices and Sony's Reader Digital Book.

Three of the other destination departments -- travel, cooking and wellness -- are similar in format to the digital center and showcase relevant content on 32-inch TV screens. They also have kiosks for related searches and merchandise relevant non-book products. In the travel department, for instance, shoppers can research, plan and book trips at the kiosk and purchase portable DVD players, luggage tags and GPS systems.

A Borders spokesperson declined to name the company handling content for the destination department screens, but did confirm that Los-Angeles based Ripple, which currently operates the BordersTV network in superstores (see Related Articles), is not involved.

Elsewhere, the children's department remains a stand-alone entity merchandising numerous books and non-book items. The 1,800-square-foot department is designated by a colorful three-wall mural created by Australian author and illustrator Colin Thompson that contrasts with the rest of the store's black-white-and-red color scheme. One addition to the existing Borders superstore is an Independent Reader section for children 10 to 12 years old that is set off as its own section.

Graphic Novels is a new destination department identified by ceiling light boxes with comic book graphics. Software, plush toys and figurines are also merchandised in the department.

The concept store has several other innovative features. A "community room" contains a pull-down stage conducive for book signings, discussion groups and music performances. The store will also host events utilizing the LongPen, a new Internet-based technology from Toronto-based Unotchit Inc. that lets authors interact with shoppers and even sign autographs from a remote location. Borders is the first retailer to test the technology.

JGA, a Southfield, MI-based retail design and brand strategy firm, worked with Borders' in-house team to create the initial concept store. The chain will use various other regional shops for future rollouts, according to a company spokesperson.

Although Borders does not share store-specific results, the spokesperson said the new store is doing very well so far.

In other activity, Borders is hosting its latest chainwide "Dream Rewards" promotion in conjunction with Walt Disney Co. The "Disney Fairies Contest" invites children of Borders Rewards members aged six to 11 to submit their own fairy creations. The winning fairy will be featured in an upcoming Disney book published by Random House and earn its creator a VIP trip to Disney World in Orlando.

Borders Group Inc., Ann Arbor, MI, operates approximately 509 Borders stores and 490 Waldenbooks mall outlets in the U.S. The company reported U.S. Borders sales of $957.8 million in fourth-quarter 2007 (ended Feb. 2), a 5.1% increase. Comparable-store sales rose 1.0%. For the year, total sales increased 5.3% to $2.8 billion as same-store sales rose 1.5%. During the quarter, the company opened six and closed seven Borders stores and closed 31 Waldenbooks locations.

The company announced that it has retained J.P. Morgan Securities and Merrill Lynch & Co. to help it explore "strategic alternatives," including a possible sale.