Borders Group
American book retailer, 1971 to 2011 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Borders Group, Inc. (former NYSE ticker symbol BGP) 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]
 | |
 The company's former headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan | |
| Company type | Public company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail (Specialty) |
| Founded | 1971; 53 years ago (1971) |
| Defunct | September 28, 2011; 12 years ago (2011-09-28) |
| Fate | |
| Successor | Barnes & Noble |
| Headquarters | 100 Phoenix Drive, , |
Number of locations | 517 (0 in 2024) |
Key people |
|
| Products | Books, maps, CDs, DVDs, calendars, gift packs, magazines, board games, encyclopedias |
Number of employees | 19,500 (2010) |
| Subsidiaries | Waldenbooks |
| Website | www.borders.com (2001 archive) |
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]