WhereIsAtlas · Bookselling

Borders

The big-box bookseller that Amazon and the e-book switched off

Defunct — Liquidated in 2011 after losing the price war to discounters and Amazon; about 400 stores closed.

Borders opened in 1971 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and invented the modern book superstore: massive stores, deep inventory and coffee-shop cafes that made browsing an outing. Through the 1990s and early 2000s it grew to around 1,000 locations (Borders superstores plus the Waldenbooks chain it bought in 1995), a fixture of the American high street.

The collapse came from several directions at once. Walmart and Target sold hit books below cost as loss leaders; Amazon sold everything with better margins; and e-books (and the Nook's rival, the Kindle) removed the value of a store full of print. Borders also loaded itself with debt from a big 2007 share buyback and special dividend, and had outsourced its own online store to Amazon.

Borders filed for Chapter 11 on 16 February 2011 and liquidated that year, closing roughly 400 stores. Barnes & Noble survived - in large part because it carried less debt and pivoted to its own e-reader in time.

Quick facts

Founded
1971, Ann Arbor, MI
Format
Invented the book superstore
Peak scale
≈ 1,000 stores (incl. Waldenbooks)
Online store
Run by Amazon for a stretch
Chapter 11
Feb 16, 2011
Liquidated
2011 (≈ 400 stores)

Sources

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