LYNNWOOD — Mall shoppers were disappointed Wednesday with word that the Alderwood Borders store will be among 200 closed within the next few months as the company slims down in hopes of emerging from bankruptcy.
“I hate that (news of the store’s closing) is true,” said Shannon Belk of Everett.
Belk said she frequents Borders at Alderwood mall and buys at least one book every month at the store. The way she purchases books will change if the store closes, she said.
“There’s a Barnes and Noble across the street, I never go over there,” Belk said. “I will probably go (shop) online if this store closes. I don’t shop online a lot because I can just come by here and pick it up, and I don’t have to wait or pay shipping.”
Although she also shops at the Borders store at Everett Mall, Belk said the Lynnwood location is a convenient stop when she visits Alderwood for other items. The Everett store was not on the planned closure list posted on the store’s website Wednesday.
The 40-year-old company plans to cut about 200 of its 642 locations over the next few weeks.
Also shopping at Alderwood on Wednesday were friends Dorelie Gilbert of Shoreline and Judy Tsoukalas of Arlington.
“It’s very sad news,” Gilbert said of Borders’ planned closure, noting that as a former teacher, she liked the fact the Borders clearly loved and valued books.
The store also has helped to make shopping at Alderwood mall enjoyable, she said.
“Borders books has gone a long way toward making the atmosphere here extremely welcoming with their coffee shop and the other things that they sell and their children’s section,” Gilbert added.
News of the closure was upsetting for Ron Barringer of Woodinville who visits the store whenever he drives to Lynnwood.
“I didn’t know it was going to close,” he said. “They always seem to be busy when I’m here.”
All of the stores to be closed are superstores, Borders spokeswoman Mary Davis said. The company also operates smaller Waldenbooks and Borders Express stores. Borders could close the stores it has slated for shuttering by the end of April.
Clearance sales could begin as early as this weekend, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. Borders said it is losing about $2 million a day at the stores it plans to close.
Cautious consumer spending, negotiations with vendors and a lack of liquidity made it clear that Borders “does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor,” Borders Group Inc. President Mike Edwards said in a written statement.
Borders plans to operate normally and honor gift cards and its loyalty program as it reorganizes.
According to the Chapter 11 filing, Borders had $1.28 billion in assets and $1.29 billion in debts as of Dec. 25.
It owes 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.
It’s significant that Borders could not reach an agreement with creditors and file a “prepackaged bankruptcy,” said Nejat Seyhun, a bankruptcy expert at the University of Michigan.
It could be a sign that creditors do not believe Borders will be a “viable operation going forward,” Seyhun said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
