NEW YORK (AP) — Whether or not Borders survives closing some 200 stores, the “superstore” boom of the past two decades has busted, authors and publishers face a market minus millions of square feet of physical shelf space and communities once crowded with booksellers may find themselves with none.
“I think Borders’ fall will cause a lot of publishers to realize they can’t just count on a few giant entities to sell their products,” said Simba Information senior trade analyst Michael Norris.
Borders, the second largest chain behind Barnes & Noble, Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday, and will close nearly a third of its 642 stores, from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. About 6,000 of the company’s 19,500 employees will lose their jobs. Borders owes millions of dollars to publishers, who must decide whether they should continue doing business with a bookseller that has been unable to pay its bills.
