Local bookstores do not anticipate extreme drops in sales when a local Borders Books and Music franchise opens in late May.

Borders, a national chain bookstore, will be located at the intersection of Duff Avenue and 16th Street South, attached to the recently opened Best Buy. The new store will sell books, DVDs and music as well as coffee and desserts.

“It will affect us some,” says Susan Bedell, manager of Big Table Books, 330 Main St. “But I don’t see it as having a huge effect.”

She says her customers appreciate the personal service Big Table can offer that Borders cannot.

“We are on a first-name basis with most of our clients,” Bedell says. “We come to know their reading tastes and they know ours. If I recommend a book, they know they will probably like it too.”

Lynette Seymour, Iowa State University Book Store general manager, says the store has a different market than Borders, and the store will continue to offer a “unique niche” to the university.

“We serve the university and are geared toward a college market,” she says. “Borders is geared toward a national market. One store looks just like another store.”

Seymour says the UBS staff has discussed the opening of Borders and is prepared for it.

“Every time a business opens, there is always interest in that new business,” she says. “We carry academic titles and lecture series books which may not be available there.”

Borders spokeswoman Emily Swan says studies have shown that Borders coexists well with local bookstores.

“We’ve found that in many cases, it drives more foot traffic through the local stores,” she says. “They usually experience an increase in sales.”

The intention of Borders is not to go into a city to the harm the existing businesses, Swan says.

“Ames is a strong market for books because there aren’t a lot of bookstores,” she says. “We offer a larger selection and we’re always trying to do a lot of events, like book signings.”

In college towns like Ann Arbor, Mich., and Ithaca, N.Y., Borders stores have been well received, Swan says.

“Harming businesses in town hasn’t been a problem,” she says.

Bedell says one reason she doesn’t foresee a loss of business is because Big Table customers are supportive of locally owned stores.

“People are of the mindset that they are either box-store shoppers or they are independent-store shoppers,” she says.

Seymour agrees that since UBS is an independent bookstore, it is more appealing to some customers.

“Borders is not unique to Ames,” she says. “We aren’t just like them — we support and showcase local authors.”