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Borders to shutter doors for good

Alan Gardner101 mins

From the Wall Street Journal:

Borders Group Inc. said it would liquidate after the second-largest U.S. bookstore chain failed to receive any offers to save it.

Borders, which employs about 10,700 people, scrapped a bankruptcy-court auction scheduled for Tuesday amid the dearth of bids. It said it would ask a judge Thursday to approve a sale to liquidators led by Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers Group.

The company said liquidation of its remaining 399 stores could start as soon as Friday, and it is expected to go out of business for good by the end of September.

10 thoughts on “Borders to shutter doors for good”

  2. I figured this would happen (not a single Borders near me is still open). I was surprised when I found one still open in Virginia and even more surprised when they tried to sell me their new discount club card.

    Glad I didn’t buy, would have been a waste of money.

  3. Barnes & Nobel seems to be doing pretty well and their stores are fun to hang out in, always seems like a nice crowd in there.

  5. The whole reason this happened is because Borders agreed to take on Amazon as a supplier. This kept Borders out of the e-book trade, because it couldn’t sell kindles, or anything that would compete with a kindle.

    So not only was Borders losing out on internet sales, it had no part of the e-book trade. Print media’s a shrinking industry.

  6. Borders sells the Kobo, which had a strong positive review at ZDNet recently, as well as ebooks for the device.

    Very few bankruptcies happen for one “whole reason,” but, in the case, lack of ability to market ebook devices isn’t a reason at all.

  7. It didn’t help that 90% of the people would read the books, magazines and newspapers, put them back and walk out without paying. People would even do their homework there using the books as if it was a library.

  8. From everything I’ve read, stupid management decisions seem to be the biggest reason for the demise. And I agree w/ Vince re the $20 Borders Rewards shill—you expect me to purchase something like that when your company’s filed for bankruptcy?! That takes some gall.

    I like to support independent bookstores, but I’ll miss Borders for just hanging out and browsing. Browsing Amazon online is nowhere near the same, nowhere near as satisfying.

  10. I’ve always found Borders associates more helpful than B&N associates, and I liked the atmosphere in Borders better. I also used tolike to special order books with them…and then they stopped. Yes, I know I can order online but I liked to give the local Borders my business. Newbury Comics stopped with special orders too. The store I manage still offers S.O’s and it’s a big reason I’ve kept andgrown my customer base. Not everyone wants to shop online andit’sa shame companies forget that.

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