Borders' Deal With Books-A-Million Falls Apart; All 399 Borders Stores to Close

Borders' hope to keep some of its stores open with a sale of 30 bookstores to Birmingham, Alabama-based Books-A-Million has fallen through. All 399 Borders stores will close by the end of September as liquidation is underway. All of the company's 10,700 employees will lose jobs.

Books-A-Million had made a last-minute bid to purchase 30 Borders stores, including leases and inventory, in the company's bankruptcy proceedings, but those negotiations have ended unsuccessfully. Discussions have ended, and all Borders stores will close.

As many as 1,000 jobs were hoped to be spared through Books-A-Million's purchase, if successful.

Books-A-Million operates 231 stores in 23 states and the District of Columbia. The majority of the stores the company was trying to buy from Borders were based in the northeast.

Borders going-out-of-business sale began last Friday at the company's 399 remaining stores throughout the country. Merchandise at Borders stores is currently reduced by as much 40 percent, and discounts are expected to be increased as the liquidation sale continues.

The company's plan to liquidate was approved in U.S. Bankruptcy Court late last Thursday, spelling the end for the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Borders chain.

A group of liquidators including Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers Retail Partners are selling off Borders' merchandise and furnishings. Borders will keep its brand name and leases and sell off those assets through an auction process.

Based in Ann Arbor, Mich., Borders filed for bankruptcy in February. The nation's second-largest bookstore tried to find a buyer to keep all or some of its 399 stores open but a deal never materialized, and the company decided to liquidate. Borders began negotiating with Books-a-Million last week, in the effort to keep some stores open, but a deal wasn't reached.