The Borders store in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle will close its doors imminently, “as soon as Friday” an employee there told us today, because its bankrupt corporate chain failed to find anyone willing to keep the stores running.
Borders went bankrupt this year and it couldn’t find a buyer by its deadline today, so now the company is liquidating all of its remaining 399 stores. The closings will begin this Friday and last through September, and the remaining assets will be sold off. The company’s 10,700 employees will most likely be laid off.
It’s unclear when exactly the Time Warner Center store will close, and the employees there said they just found out about all of this today. (If you want a rousing farewell, the cast of Hair was scheduled to perform at the store Tuesday night.)
It’s another sad moment for the Upper West Side. After losing the Lincoln Square Barnes and Noble last year, there are now very few options for book stores in the Southern half of the neighborhood. Of course, many people lamented the “big chain stores” when they first got here, pushing out the small independent shops. But people loved to browse in the big stores, and they had tons of events that were usually free for the community. If only more people actually bought the products…
Read our piece about the first great demise of Upper West Side bookstores, and how it led to the movie You’ve got Mail, here.
Photo by Avi.
Thanks (sadly) for the story. I agree: we were hesitant with the big chain stores, but we grew to love them. Bookstores are great for human interaction and people watching. Unfortunately, what they were great for was also their downfall: we all went to browse and watch and didn’t buy enough. Bottom line.