Borders Goes Belly-Up

I am currently unable to leave my house, so this seems a good time to catch up on some literary news and events.

You may have heard that brick-and-mortar bookstore chain, Borders, filed Chapter 11 last week. Rumors of Borders’ demise have been swirling since 2008 in trade and real-estate news, but the loss of yet another retail outlet could impact writers. John Scalzi did a cogent little write-up on the possible downstream author affects on Whatever. More immediately of concern is the closing of 200 stores and the loss of all those attendant jobs… and, lest we forget, liquidating $350 million in inventory.

Borders sums up that last bit in these words from the press release: “This is a tremendous opportunity for consumers to take advantage of truly compelling discounts on a huge selection of literature, entertainment media and much more.  We anticipate that today’s value conscious consumer will respond very positively to these outstanding savings. We expect this will be a short sale.” If that’s not blowing sunshine from one’s nether parts, I don’t know what is.

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The downtown Seattle Border’s location is not scheduled for closure, but both Gig Harbor and Lynnwood will lose stores. Edward Champion has compiled a list of alternate independent bookstores near each of the closing locations. If you know of an additional bookstore (or few), that Champion has missed, please add it to the comments, either here or there.

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For news of how the filing is affecting the rank and file, it’s worth checking out the LiveJournal group iworkatborders. Posters have already reported having their paychecks bounce; although one must keep in mind that this is LiveJournal, where posters have been known to report flying monkeys.

One would think the bad news for Borders would be great news for the company’s competitors, but Barnes and Noble has announced that it is suspending its quarterly (and that’s a pun, since B&N pays out $.25/share) dividend distributions, reports the Toronto Star. B&N has been up for sale since last summer, following a soft retail climate that has left most booksellers feeling the pinch. Barnes & Noble, Inc. sales are down almost 25 percent (another quarter! spooky…) from a year earlier.