Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

[dcarrigg]

Here's the story: It's not painting a pretty picture w/ the earlier Cisco post in mind.

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.

Borders filed for bankruptcy-court protection in February. It has since continued to bleed cash and has had trouble persuading publishers to ship merchandise to it on normal terms that allowed the chain to pay bills later, instead of right away.

"Following the best efforts of all parties, we are saddened by this development," said Borders President Mike Edwards. "We were all working hard toward a different outcome, but the head winds we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly changing book industry, [electronic reader] revolution and turbulent economy, have brought us to where we are now."

Borders's best chance for survival fell apart last week when talks with private-equity investor Jahm Najafi to buy the company collapsed. Borders scrambled unsuccessfully over the weekend to find other potential buyers who would keep the chain alive.

The chain's demise could speed the decline in sales of hardcover and paperback books as consumers increasingly turn to downloading electronic books or having physical books mailed to their doorsteps.

[don]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

My wife's sister is a manager at a Borders. She ducked the first round of closures. Adios, muchachos!

(and now the family drama really begins )

[flintlock]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

America needs to get used to this kind of news. There's going to be lots more of it. The great Perpetual Growth scam is unraveling. Better get to work on those plans to settle Mars.

[doom&gloom]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

They can party with the layoffs from Cisco ...

[BiscayneSunrise]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

As cruel as this sounds, this is what recessions/depressions do. They perform a needed clearing function. Stagnant companies fail so as to open the way for others with better ideas suited to the future.

Borders fails; to make room for Amazon, travel agents lose to priceline, IBM vacates the PC business for Dell, etc.

As flintlock points out, the days of perpetual growth, while not over, are shifting to a different paradigm. A LOT of economic imbalances will find new equilibrium over the next generation or two.

[touchring]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

Borders not extinct yet....

http://business.asiaone.com/Business...20-289999.html

Business as usual for Borders here

By David Lim

On Monday, Borders Group, the second-largest bookstore chain in the United States after Barnes & Nobles, announced that it will sell itself to a group of liquidators led by Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers Group.

It will close its 399 stores and lay off 10,700 staff in the US as early as Friday.

However, this does not affect the two Singapore stores as they are owned by Australian firm REDgroup Retail, which bought them from Borders Group in 2008.

The latter had brought the brand here in November 1997 when it opened its first overseas store at Wheelock Place.

The 30,000 sq ft outlet trailblazed the concept of a lifestyle bookstore with its wide variety of music, in-house cafe and late operating hours on weekends.

It opened its second outlet at Parkway Parade, occupying 17,000 sq ft, in November 2007.

As recent as October 2009, my paper reported that the Wheelock Place store was the world's most profitable Borders outlet based on sales per sq ft.

Yesterday, Borders Singapore's executive manager, Ms Inge Wilhelm, said via e-mail: "Borders Singapore has no affiliation with Borders USA.

"Naturally, as fellow book retailers, any further store closures in the US is met with sadness on our part."

"Nothing, however, has changed here in Singapore, (and) we continue to conduct business as usual."

Perhaps, Borders should send some executives over to Singapore to study why that store does better.

[LazyBoy]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

Perhaps, Borders should send some executives over to Singapore to study why that store does better.

By not having an Amazon?

[don]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

As cruel as this sounds, this is what recessions/depressions do. They perform a needed clearing function. Stagnant companies fail so as to open the way for others with better ideas suited to the future.

Borders fails; to make room for Amazon, travel agents lose to priceline, IBM vacates the PC business for Dell, etc.

As flintlock points out, the days of perpetual growth, while not over, are shifting to a different paradigm. A LOT of economic imbalances will find new equilibrium over the next generation or two.

The book and music industry changes may be accelerating. I buy most of my music and books through Amazon. Movies as well. Their pricing patterns may hold a clue to what's coming.

Yesterday I bought a "chick lit' paperback for my wife. Cost was $10.87. The hardcover edition is now listed as $49.99! (used copies start at $4.95) Kindle is $9.99. The book came out in 2007.

Something similar is going on in CD movies. Inventory is being slashed, with pricing for classic films often going for under $10. Once out of stock, the same titles are listed at over a $100.

Recent charge increases for Netflix, potential tier rates per downloading volume, cloud computing - looks like tollbooths are the future business model. If my ever-increasing Comcast bills are any indication, things look increasingly costly.

[flintlock]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

I love Amazon. I pick up used books, often for less than a dollar plus $3.99 shipping. I even re-sell books through Amazon. I had a lot of out of print books that brought $50+ each. I buy almost everything I can from there now. I even bought an oil filter for my mower the other day. Their price is often the cheapest even after paying shipping, which is free in most cases if you spend over $25. No more expensive trips to the store. No more surly employees, no more traumatic visits to Walmart. Returning an item is easy also. I like the company in general. I am interested in their movie streaming in terms of a potential competitor to Netflix.

[jiimbergin]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

I love Amazon. I pick up used books, often for less than a dollar plus $3.99 shipping. I even re-sell books through Amazon. I had a lot of out of print books that brought $50+ each. I buy almost everything I can from there now. I even bought an oil filter for my mower the other day. Their price is often the cheapest even after paying shipping, which is free in most cases if you spend over $25. No more expensive trips to the store. No more surly employees, no more traumatic visits to Walmart. Returning an item is easy also. I like the company in general. I am interested in their movie streaming in terms of a potential competitor to Netflix.

I love amazon too. I buy lots there, including 3 tvs, a garden tiller and even a toilet! I buy so much there that I have a prime account which is worth it to me for the 2 day free shipping.

[chr5648]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

Borders conditioned their customers to expect 40-50% off coupons. Every few months or so they would send out a 40-50% off coupon and the stores would be packed. When the offer ended, stores were empty. The customers anchored their mental references to 50% off and they were not willing to come in to buy a full priced book when amazon is a few clicks away.

[c1ue]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

Borders helped kill off many small independent bookstores via the bookstore equivalent of the big box, using debt to achieve scale and number of outlets.

It is unsurprising then that said debt wound up killing them.

The impact of the internet is significant, but the ongoing problem with internet sales is that it also breaks the existing book sales paradigm: shelf exposure.

As I've noted before, one of the principal ways by which new readers (and purchasers) are exposed to new material is via the bookshelf. The book being sought has similar books around it.

The internet stores are trying to make up for this via software; it is very unclear how effective this is.

The net effect of the ongoing loss of bricks and mortar bookstores will be to amplify the effect of Book of the Month clubs and Oprah-esque endorsements. Not a positive development from my POV.

Hopefully the internet will amplify word of mouth to compensate.

[shiny!]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

I love Amazon. I pick up used books, often for less than a dollar plus $3.99 shipping. I even re-sell books through Amazon. I had a lot of out of print books that brought $50+ each. I buy almost everything I can from there now. I even bought an oil filter for my mower the other day. Their price is often the cheapest even after paying shipping, which is free in most cases if you spend over $25. No more expensive trips to the store. No more surly employees, no more traumatic visits to Walmart. Returning an item is easy also. I like the company in general. I am interested in their movie streaming in terms of a potential competitor to Netflix.

I buy most of my stuff from Amazon now, too. Another good site for used books, especially rare or hard-to-find titles is Abe Books:

http://www.abebooks.com/

I just found Hugo's out-of-print Latin in Three Months from there for $1.00 after searching for it for several years.

[don]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

I buy most of my stuff from Amazon now, too. Another good site for used books, especially rare or hard-to-find titles is Abe Books:

http://www.abebooks.com/

I often find Abe Books are often tied into Amazon as well. Same sellers.

As an author I plan on exploring the Amazon business plan. Borders closing reinforces that decision.

[shiny!]

Re: Borders to shutter remaining 399 stores - 10,000+ to be laid off

I often find Abe Books are often tied into Amazon as well. Same sellers.

As an author I plan on exploring the Amazon business plan. Borders closing reinforces that decision.

When I can't find a book at Amazon I search with Bookfinder at http://www.bookfinder.com . Neither of them had this Latin book but someone had it at Abe's.