Borders Group

This article is about the international book store chain. For the Scottish geologic unit, see Border Group.

Borders Group, Inc.
Company typePublic
NYSE: BGP
IndustryRetail (specialty)
Founded1971; 53 years ago (1971)
DefunctSeptember 28, 2011 (2011-09-28)
Fate
SuccessorBarnes & Noble
Headquarters100 Phoenix Drive,
Ann Arbor, Michigan
,
United States
Number of locations
517
Key people
ProductsBooks, maps, CDs, DVDs, calendars, gift packs, magazines, board games, encyclopedias
Number of employees
19,500 (2010)
SubsidiariesWaldenbooks
Websitewww.borders.com (2001 archive)

Borders Group, Inc. was an American multinational book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. In its final year, the company employed about 19,500 people throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders and Waldenbooks stores.[1][2]

At the beginning of 2010, the company operated 511 Borders superstores in the United States. The company also operated 175 stores in the Waldenbooks Specialty Retail segment, including Waldenbooks, Borders Express, Borders airport stores, and Borders Outlet stores. In February 2011, Borders applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and began liquidating 226 of its stores in the United States. Despite a purchase offer from the private equity firm Najafi Companies, Borders was not able to find a buyer acceptable to its creditors before its July bidding deadline, so it began liquidating its remaining 399 retail outlets, with the last remaining stores closing in September.[3][non-primary source needed] The Chapter 11 case was ultimately converted to Chapter 7.[4] Rival bookseller Barnes & Noble acquired Borders's trademarks and customer list.

By the end of December 2009, Borders employed an estimated 1,150 staff across its UK stores, which went into bankruptcy administration before the end of 2009.[5] All stores were closed by December 31, 2009. Borders Group also formerly operated stores in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. However, these were sold off to Pacific Equity Partners (which owned rival Angus & Robertson) in 2008,[6] then were later sold again to REDgroup Retail. The stores continued to operate under the Borders brand as the unaffiliated "Borders Asia Pacific" until RedGroup was placed into voluntary administration in February 2011; with the five New Zealand stores sold to the James Pascoe Group and the Australian stores gradually shut down, with the last group closing in July 2011.[7][8][9]

In Dubai, Al Maya Group purchased lifetime rights to the Borders brand in the Middle East in 2015, and subsequently diversified it into a merchandise mix consisting of books, toys and stationery.[10]

  1. ^ "Borders books to close, along with 10,700 jobs". CBS News. July 18, 2011. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  2. ^ Clark, Andrew (February 13, 2011). "Borders poised for bankruptcy". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  3. ^ "Log in or Sign Up to View". facebook.com.
  4. ^ Ovide, Shira (July 18, 2011). "Bookstore Chain Borders Is Dead". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 28, 2011.
  5. ^ Koenig, Chris (December 10, 2009). "Borders on brink". Oxford Mail. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  6. ^ "Borders Reaches Agreement to Sell Australia/New Zealand/Singapore Business to A&R Whitecoulis". Borders.com. Archived from the original on September 4, 2015.
  7. ^ Zappone, Chris (April 7, 2011). "Borders Australia closures sees 500 jobs lost". Stuff (company). Retrieved October 24, 2020.
  8. ^ Zappone, Chris (June 2, 2011). "The end: Borders to close remaining stores". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved October 24, 2020.
  9. ^ "The end: Borders last Australian stores to close by end of July". news.com.au. June 2, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference dubai was invoked but never defined (see the help page).