I reckon an Amazon store that serves as an interface to their online store might be good. Don't sell books there, but rather you go in, and can browse through books, drink coffee etc just like a Borders store, and if you have a kindle, you can buy books on the spot, if you don't, you can order them shipped to your house. That way they only need a 1-2 copies of each book in the store, just as display stock. They could sell kindles there, and have computers/tablets for purchasing online (even perhaps let you buy books through your kindle app on iOS/android by scanning barcodes/qr codes). Staff could teach people how to use Amazon/kindles etc. Book signings/launches could also be held there.
That's basically how I've used Borders here in Australia before they went bust. I would go in, and enjoy the atmosphere of the physical book store, flick through books, and then take photos of them and go home and buy them online via Kindle or Book Depository for half the price. I don't mind if I don't get the book instantly (though I would anyway if it was out on kindle), I just enjoy browsing. It would be a good sales generator for Amazon with still a fairly low overhead.
This might be a good idea, if they can figure out how to make enough money to stay open. One problem with Borders was that coffee shops and bookstores don't mix; I bought an expensive art book one time at the big Borders in White Flint Mall and found a big coffee ring on one plate when I got it home.
ADDED: Thinking about it a little more, what is happening to bookstores in general looks like a good illustration of "The answer to 'Why don't they...?' is almost always 'Money'."
That's basically how I've used Borders here in Australia before they went bust. I would go in, and enjoy the atmosphere of the physical book store, flick through books, and then take photos of them and go home and buy them online via Kindle or Book Depository for half the price. I don't mind if I don't get the book instantly (though I would anyway if it was out on kindle), I just enjoy browsing. It would be a good sales generator for Amazon with still a fairly low overhead.