The final chapter was seven for Borders Group, the Michigan-based book-selling chain that will begin liquidating stores -- including about 10 in Georgia -- almost immediately.
The nation's second largest traditional bookseller received no additional bids after a Sunday deadline passed and Monday asked a bankruptcy court for approval to liquidate. A Tuesday auction for bidders who wanted to keep Borders open for business has been canceled, according to the Wall Street Journal.
All 399 stores will close soon, some as early as Friday, Borders said in a statement. Liquidation should be complete by September. The company, which employs about 11,000, had not turned a profit since 2006.
"Following the best efforts of all parties, we are saddened by this development," Borders Group President Mike Edwards said in a statement.
Liquidators could generate $252 million to $284 million from selling off the assets of the bookseller.
The superstore pioneer, which put countless mom-and-pop bookshops out of business, filed for bankruptcy protection in February, and planned to close five Atlanta-area locations, but was sunk by crushing debt and sluggishness in adapting to a rapidly changing industry.
Earlier this year, the 40-year-old company owed tens of millions of dollars to publishers, including $41.1 million to Penguin Putnam, $36.9 million to Hachette Book Group, $33.8 million to Simon & Schuster and $33.5 million to Random House.
Borders also suffered from a series of errors: failing to catch onto the growing importance of the Web and electronic books, not reacting quickly enough to declining music and DVD sales, and hiring four CEOs in five years without book-selling experience.
Even as the book industry shifted around it, Borders seemed to be in denial and focused on adding superstores, said Michael Norris, senior trade analyst at Simba Information.
"Books and content just became so available at so many other locations, online and offline, the ‘grow, rinse, repeat' mindset just wouldn't work anymore," he said in February, after Borders filed for Chapter 11 protection.
In addition, Americans are simply buying fewer books. Sales fell nearly 5 percent in 2010 to 717.8 million from 751.7 million last year, according to Nielsen, which tracks about 70 percent of book sales but doesn't include Walmart stores.
At its peak in 2003, Borders operated 1,249 stores under the Borders and Waldenbooks names.
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