Is anyone buying Borders fixtures?

I helped to open a Borders store a few years ago in my town, and I was impressed by the quality of the shelving materials. But, then, they kinda fell short of my expectations as time went by, mostly because of hardware issues.

A few of the three foot wide bays have sold signs, so someone is paying $100 each for them.
The ladders are each priced at $600. Geeze!
But the ladder rails seem to be less pricey - $31.50 for a 9 foot section.
I have an old oak library ladder. I picked it up for $10 thirty years ago, trusting that someday...
That someday has arrived. I've finally found a house which will accomodate a long wall of to the ceiling shelves. So I'm hoping the rails are a standard size. (Thinking about carting the ladder to the store to make absolutely sure.
Does anyone know about these technicalities?

We visited one collector's home last month who had purchased and installed two of the Borders ladders and rails in a tall room that seemed about 16x16 ft. I think we asked him how much the ladders were and they were not as high as the $600 you mention. Clearly this varies from store to store.

I would imagine that the ladders could accept a range of different railing diameters. I would start by measuring the width of the pulley. If that mechanism can be removed from your ladder without harming the finish, it might be easier to bring than the entire ladder.

We don't have tall enough ceilings in this house to justify ladders on rails but perhaps someday....

James

I eyed the shelves at my local Borders', since like many (most?) of us here in Library Thing, I always need more bookshelves. However, my house has all 8-ft. ceilings, so Borders' single-sided shelves are too tall to fit. The double-sided shelves would fit, but would take up too much floor space in my modest-sized rooms, so I had to take a pass.

As to Borders' library ladders and rails, I have a woodworking catalog where one can order library ladders made to order. You are not given a choice of rail size, so presumably their "7/8" slotted track" is a standard size for library ladders. (I'm 45 miles from my nearest Borders, so I can't easily run down there to check their rail size.) The catalog folks charge $16 to $32 per foot for the rail, depending on the finish chosen, so $31.50 for 9 feet is a good deal.

Their special order form, for more information on their ladders and rails for comparison purposes, is at http://www.rockler.com/library-ladder/custom.cfm. There's also a phone number you could call for additional assistance, if you don't let on that you already have the stuff and won't actually be buying from them....

Great! That's exactly the info I was hoping for. Thanks!

Wife and I tried to buy a magazine rack last week, were told come back next week. Went in Monday after she got off work, and were told come back Tuesday, and put our name on a list to see if we can get it. All for a small $25 rack. We said forget it.

My Borders refused to seperate the rails from the $600 ladders; although they hadn't sold any of the 4 on hand yet. And they were officially priced seperately. I was told to come back today. I may not bother either.

They wanted $600 for the ladders at our Borders too. We priced a new one and it wasn't much more so passed on it.

Not everyone's got that high of a ceiling anyway.