With its last day of business set for Friday, the downtown Santa Barbara Borders bookstore, at 900 State St., has seen better days. Everything that once made the store complete — bookshelves, cafe tables, office furniture and even security cameras — is for sale.

Where live music and chess were once played, empty bookshelves stand upright with price tags — $25 for single bookcases and $50 for double bookcases.

The entire third floor is closed off, with the store’s previous mass of CDs and DVDs contained on just a few shelves across from the cafe. The downstairs literature section has been consolidated to a few shelves, and the entrance is cluttered with signs announcing “Everything Must Go” and discounts of up to 75 percent.

“I can’t believe Borders is leaving,” shopper Michael Jones told Noozhawk. “I relied on Borders for so many things: weekend entertainment, birthday gifts, a place to peruse when I had nothing better to do. I’m really going to miss it.”

Shopper Cady Gomez echoed similar sentiments.

“I guess this is what Web sites like Amazon do,” she said. “It seemed to do pretty well, though.”

The store, which opened in November 1995, may have looked busy, but corporate spokeswoman Mary Davis told Noozhawk in November that the store “just wasn’t meeting our business objectives.”

And now with Barnes & Noble, across the street at 829 State St. also closing, Santa Barbara residents will have to look elsewhere for their literary needs.

“Borders was downtown, and I’m not downtown, so we’ll just have to wait and see how its closing affects business,” she Mahri Kerley, owner of Chaucer’s Bookstore at 3321 State St.. “I’ve owned Chaucer’s for 37 and have lots of loyal customers, good employees and good inventory. It’s certainly not going to hurt. How much it helps remains to be seen.”

SIMA Corp., which purchased the $10 million, 21,800-square-foot building in April 2010, couldn’t confirm plans for the soon-to-be-vacant space, but it has been widely rumored that Borders will be replaced by clothing retailer Marshalls. Another apparel store, H&M, reportedly plans to move into the Barnes & Noble location.

— Noozhawk business writer Taylor Orr can be reached at torr@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkBiz, @noozhawk or @NoozhawkNews. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.