Borders files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
By The Associated Press
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| "Internets? What is internets? Internets not hurt me." |
NEW YORK -- Bookseller Borders, which helped pioneer superstores that put countless mom-and-pop bookshops out of business, filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, sunk by crushing debt and sluggishness in adapting to a rapidly changing industry.
If Borders wants to be consumer friendly by selling coffee and playing smooth jazz promoting a community coffee house atmosphere, then they better get more competitive. Barnes and Noble is next if it hasn't happened already. I have nothing against them and I want the Borders to stay, but if no executive could see this coming, then the ship has already run aground. It may not even be a price problem. Maybe book stores are dinosaueric after all.
The 40-year-old company plans to close about 200 of its 642 stores over the next few weeks.
None of the five Borders-owned stores in West Virginia -- including Borders stores in Barboursville and Vienna, Borders Express stores in Charleston and Bridgeport and a Waldenbooks store in Mount Hope -- is on the closure list. All five stores are in malls.
All of the stores closed will be superstores, Borders spokeswoman Mary Davis said. The company also operates smaller Waldenbooks and Borders Express stores.
Borders Group Inc. President Mike Edwards said in a written statement that cautious consumer spending, negotiations with publishers and other vendors and a lack of liquidity made it clear Borders "does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor."
Borders plans to operate normally and honor gift cards and its loyalty program as it reorganizes.
The company will receive $505 million in debtor-in-possession financing from GE Capital and others to help it reorganize.
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