Borders Wins Small Victory, But Still Closing More Stores
Borders won a very small victory today when six landlords granted the struggling bookseller a reprieve, giving Borders more time to think about canceling the leases on those stores.
Borders was supposed to close an additional 51 stores, but that has been reduced to 45. This is on top of the 237 stores they closed in February after filing for bankruptcy.
This Bloomberg article explains:
Since yesterday’s announcement of its original plan to close 51 stores, Borders won concessions from landlords at Logan International Airport in Boston, Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus and four other locations, it said today in papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.
Additionally:
Borders said closing the stores means it won’t be able to sell them. Najafi Cos., a private-equity firm, is considering buying many Borders stores, a person familiar with the matter said June 8. Gores Group LLC, a Los Angeles-based private-equity firm, is bidding for at least half of Borders’s stores, another person familiar with the matter said June 1.
I’ve been following the Borders saga with particular interest since just before they filed for bankruptcy in February. The outcome of their bankruptcy will likely have a large impact on the brick-and-mortar bookselling business.
