Borders books on sale in 200 closing locations

Borders Books on sale in 200 closing locations

Borders books on sale attracted plenty of shoppers to about 200 Borders locations nationwide, as the outlets start to clear out inventory before they close due to bankruptcy.

The closing stores represent about a third of all Borders locations. In Southern California alone, 21 outlets will be closing by April. Over the weekend, book lovers came in droves and were welcomed with "Everything Must Go" discount and bargain posters.

With the impending closures, Borders books are now being offered at 20 to 40 percent discounts. Among the first items to go from shelves were notebooks, planners and journals. Prices are expected to be reduced further as the closing date approaches.

The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based book retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 16, 2011. Borders has struggled to cope with increasing competition from electronic media as readers shift their preference from shopping in brick-and-mortar shops to online purchases of e-books and magazines.

Major retailers like Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have also upped the ante in the book market, offering bigger discounts which specialty stores like Borders often fail to match.

Border posted a message on its website last week vowing to continue selling at its remaining locations and later come out of Chapter 11 stronger. Saying it wants to eventually become "the destination of choice" the company intends to become relevant again in the book-selling business.

The company currently employs some 19,000 workers but will have to let go of 6,000  because of the closure of many stores. For customers of closing locations, they have until the end of April to enjoy the big discounts on Borders books.

Posted by Melanie Mendoza on Monday February 21 2011, 4:26 AM EDT. Ref: LA Times. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Shopping. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0