Borden's Stationery Writing Its Farewell After 105 Years In Point Pleasant Beach

POINT PLEASANT BEACH, NJ — Barry Lubin stood at the register sitting on the glass case, ringing up a sale.

"Congratulations, but we're sorry to see you go," a woman said as she paid for her purchases. "We've been coming here for years."

"Here" is Borden's, on Arnold Avenue just west of Route 35 south. The stationery store has been in business for 105 years, offering an array of items from educational materials to office supplies to gifts. It was a place where once brides to be ordered their wedding invitations and stationery, where new teachers could pick up items for their classrooms, and where, if there was something you could not find anywhere, you could bet Borden's would have it — or would order it.

It's that customer service and the family feeling of the store that have allowed it to grow and remain part of the landscape in Point Pleasant Beach for so many years.

The shopping landscape, however, has changed significantly in the last two years. While big box stores were a challenge Borden's was able to weather, the impact of supply chain issues since the pandemic and the rapid growth of internet shopping has been online shopping has proven to be a much bigger obstacle.

With the store's lease due for renewal shortly and his 65th birthday right around the corner, Lubin decided the time was right to pack it in. Borden's will close its doors at the end of January, when the lease is up.

"The internet has been the biggest change," Lubin said. "We survived the chain stores and grew. But now it's click-click-buy. I don't see an opportunity for the business to grow for the foreseeable future."

The internet and technology have whittled away the services Borden's used to offer. Photo processing is gone, as people moved to digital cameras and printing at home. The demand for customized wedding stationery has moved to home businesses.

"Less and less people send greeting cards," he said; the store has long carried a wide selection of Hallmark cards and gifts.

Even the demand for teaching materials has slipped.

"New teachers just shop online these days," he said. Instead of buying workbooks, "they can print out one page online."

Lubin spent his early career working in retail for Stern's department stores, but in 1991 was offered the opportunity to buy Borden's from his father-in-law, Edward Slater, who had owned the store since 1972, Lubin said.

Borden's opened for business in 1918, with Borden family members owning it until the 1960s, Lubin said. It was sold to another owner, who then sold it to Slater, Lubin said.

The store is still filled with educational materials, arts and crafts and all manner of unique items.

"We've always had those difficult-to-find items," he said, and the store has gone to extra effort to get items its customers needed. He had an employee who, when a customer came in looking for screws or hardware to fix an office chair, would go across the street to the hardware store, buy the item, and then sell it to the customer with a small markup.

"If I can get something I will," Lubin said. "We will continue what we're doing until the last day we're here."

Lubin has a retirement sale going as he tries to clear inventory, and he's looking toward the future. He and Susan are planning to travel — "We're going to do a lot of traveling," he said — and he will be getting used to not having to go into the store every day.

There will be some customers he misses, people who have become friends.

"But there comes a point where you know it's time," Lubin said. "It's time."