Call it another nail in the coffin for shiny, nice-smelling print media, or an long-overdue corporate reform -- Borders Books is packing up and leaving Broward County.
It's only two stores, but it's a good portion of the local book-selling landscape: Broward has six Barnes & Noble stores and a smattering of independent bookshops. Despite its aggressive push to sell e-readers, Borders has fallen victim to a nationwide trend of rapidly declining paper book sales.
Yesterday, Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief in New York federal court. The chain's president, Mike Edwards, said that the company plans to
continue doing business as usual. However, they announced plans to close
"underperforming stores," which amounts to about 30 percent of their
national network.
Unfortunately for local book-buyers and
browsers (feel guilty now?), both stores in Broward County will be
shuttered. They're both on Sunrise Boulevard, one backing up on the
Intracoastal at the Gateway shopping center and the other in Plantation.
"We're
really not discussing the details," said a Borders Group media
representative on Thursday. "The judge approved a list [of
underperforming stores] this morning."
By the end of April, the
company plans to hold liquidation sales at all of its closing stores, so
keep an eye out for cheap books (and bookshelves). Other than that, get
out your library card or charge up that Kindle, because the printed
word has a rough road ahead.
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