The good, the awful. (Comment).

IT'S a standard Saturday at my neighborhood Borders bookstore, which means a line of customers waiting to check out -- a handful at first; then eight, then a dozen. Two clerks man the counter, but it's a lost cause. One of them finally gets on the P.A. to ask for help. A minute passes, then two, then five. There will be no reinforcements, even though I spy an employee staring blankly from behind the information booth. When my turn comes, I quip to the clerk about how his store-mates are helping him out. The guy grunts.

Terrible shopping experience. Makes you never want to go back.

It's a standard Sunday at my neighborhood Bed Bath & Beyond, which means the place is jammed with customers clutching 20 percent-off discount coupons. The checkout area is especially mobbed -- but unlike the scene at Borders, every aisle is open with a cashier and a bagger. The lines move along. Everyone is courteous and efficient.

Great shopping experience. Makes you want to keep spending your money.

There are many ways to assess a retailer's performance -- number of locations, same-store sales, margins. But simple measurements sometimes are the most revealing. And the scenes at Borders and Bed, Bath & Beyond, both public companies begun 30 years ago, speak volumes.

Last week, Borders Group Inc. reported a third-quarter loss of 4 cents a share, compared with a loss of 6 cents in the year-ago period. Its stock is trading at $18, down from $42 in 1998.

Bed Bath & Beyond is expected to report third-quarter earnings of 18 cents a share, according to Value Line, up from 14 cents a year earlier. Its stock is at $32, near its all-time high and on a steady climb for six years.

To be fair, there are important distinctions between the two. Bed Bath & Beyond is a discounter, the hottest retail segment these days because everyone wants to save a buck. Borders is pretty much full-price, which generated good margins when everyone was willing to spend like mad -- but not now.

However, the real reason one chain works so well and the other so badly could have more to do with how they evolved as companies.

Bed Bath & Beyond was started in 1971 by a couple of discount guys who figured there was a market for stores offering only home goods. It wasn't until 1985 that they adapted the superstore concept and expanded nationwide. The chain went public in 1992 and has prudently added stores ever since.

Borders' history was rockier. Started as a university bookstore in Ann Arbor, Mich., also in 1971, it went national in the late '80s and by 1992 there were 25 stores. Then it was sold to Kmart and in 1995 spun off as an IPO. A few years later it went on an acquisition binge that included stakes in a British stationery retailer and a kiosk-based seller of toys and novelties.

So what you have is a stable family versus one that's been broken up a few times. It's not the ultimate determinant for success, but it helps explain a few things. For Borders, the frequent change in ownership -- from privately held to subsidiary to publicly traded -- is an obvious red flag. For Bed Bath & Beyond, the freedom that store managers are given in trying new products and configurations is just as obvious a strength.

Either way, retailers can learn a lot this holiday season from both -- the good and the awful.

Mark Lacter is editor of the Business Journal.