During its early days, Alamo Quarry Market was one of the places to be for San Antonio millennials, with numerous restaurants, a Whole Foods, a movie theater and a two-story Borders bookstore that served as a prime hangout for lovers of books and coffee.
While many of those businesses remain (and many more have been added), the Borders bookstore went the way of the dodo by 2011, marking the end of a certain era. Though the building itself still stands, what’s now in its place is a far cry from its past life.
Borders was one of the anchors of the Alamo Quarry Market when it opened in 1998, acting as one of several entertainment-focused spaces throughout the shopping center. The store was unique for its large inventory of books and music, back when CDs were still in wide circulation, and for its scale; a cafe operated on the first floor and an escalator took customers to the second level.
The Alamo Quarry Borders would go on to become a place for people to gather, shop or simply mosey about between other activities at the shopping center. Young folks could be found perusing the manga section after catching the newest Star Wars flick at the nearby movie theater. Bookworms would see it as a romantic spot for a Friday night date. Fandoms would fill the store in droves on big book release nights. Ultimately, Borders was a place for all types to enjoy various forms of media and a decent coffee in one comfortable place.
Unfortunately, the Great Recession took a heavy toll on Borders, a retailer that had been around since 1971 but began to see a decline in the late-2000s. By 2011, the company sought to liquidate its stores after talks to sell Borders to a private equity firm fell through. After close to 13 years, Borders closed and vacated its home at the Alamo Quarry Market.
It didn’t take long for something else to move into the defunct Borders, as less than a year later, Nordstrom Rack opened in its place. The department store outlet remains operational in the two-story Alamo Quarry space as of 2026, but if you were around back in the day, you might remember that those walls were once home to a wonderland of books, music and teen angst.