Borders Group, the second largest bookstore chain in the United States is the latest victim of our struggling economy. The Michigan-based company couldn't find a buyer to keep its doors open, and now has announced it will be going out of business. It will be closing all of its remaining 399 stores by September, including one in Winston-Salem. The liquidation plan means that all 10,700 Borders employees, including 400 working in their flagship store in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will lose their jobs this Fall. So far, there is no word on how many employees work in the Winston-Salem location.
Borders could not overcome larger rivals like Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), both of which now dominate the US book industry after it shifted largely online. One of the reasons is because they could never come up with an eReader of their own, like Amazon's Kindle, and Barnes & Noble's Nook. Instead, they were relying on selling an eReader made in Canada known as the Kobo eReader, which is not very popular among US consumers.
Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, hoping to emerge as a more competitive force in the book industry. However, not even an attempted bid from an Arizona buyout firm could save them from the decision they made today. Books-A-Million (NASDAQ:BAMM) has announced that it was interested in buying 50 vacant areas where Borders stores were originally located. It is unknown if this includes the Greensboro or the soon-to-be-closed Winston-Salem location.
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