The second-largest U.S. bookstore chain handed its online sales to Amazon and stocked up on CDs as the world went digital, liquidating its stores in 2011.
Born
1971 CE
Died
2011 CE
Lived
40 years
Dead for
15 yrs
At its peak
~1,200 stores; ~19,500 employees at peak
Cause of death
Replaced
Replaced by
Amazon and Barnes & Noble
The Obituary
Founded in 1971 by Tom and Louis Borders, Borders grew from an Ann Arbor, Michigan bookstore into the second-largest U.S. bookstore chain, known for deep inventories and in-store cafes. It made two fatal misjudgments: from 2001 to 2008 it outsourced its online sales to Amazon, surrendering e-commerce to a competitor, and it expanded floor space for CDs and DVDs just as those formats collapsed into downloads and streaming. Late to e-readers and burdened with debt and unprofitable stores, Borders filed for bankruptcy in February 2011. Unable to find a buyer, it liquidated its remaining roughly 400 stores by September 2011, ending about 10,700 jobs.
Worth remembering
From 2001 to 2008 it outsourced its entire online business to Amazon, ceding the digital market to its eventual killer.
It bet heavily on CD and DVD floor space just as music and movies went digital.
Gallery
Borders bookstore entrance with liquidation 'Store Closing' sale signs, Oakland Mall, Troy, Michigan, August 201142-BRT · CC BY-SA 4.0Borders bookshop storefront on Charing Cross Road, London, 2007Mark Hillary · CC BY 2.0
Sources
Borders filed for bankruptcy in February 2011 and liquidated its remaining stores by September 2011 Wikipedia
Borders outsourced its online sales to Amazon from 2001 to 2008 The New York Times
Borders, founded in Ann Arbor in 1971 and once the second-largest U.S. bookstore chain, filed for Chapter 11 in February 2011 and closed the last of its more than 1,200 stores by September 2011 after failing to adapt to e-commerce. Literary Hub
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.
Buried nearby — by shared fate or a neighbouring lifespan.
