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Borders Files Chapter 11, Announces 3 Austin Closures

Borders, the nation's 2nd largest book store chain, plans to close three Austin stores as part of Chapter 11 reorganization
Image courtesy door to rivers at Flickr.com
Borders, the nation's 2nd largest book store chain, plans to close three Austin stores as part of Chapter 11 reorganization

Nationwide bookseller Bordersfiled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week, and the fallout will impact its Austin stores. 

Borders Group president Mike Edwards said in a letter to customers that the Michigan-based chain would maintain business as usual, but that the company was planning to shutter about 30 percent of their 700 stores.  A closure list obtained by the Austin Business Journal included Borders stores in The Domain, Southpark Meadows and the Westgate Shopping Center as stores that would be closed.

The company is asking a federal bankruptcy judge in New York for approval of a restructuring plan, based on about $505-million in restructuring capital and the elimination of what Borders labels as "underperforming stores."

Ian Crawford joined KUT as News Editor in 2008, after spending over four years as a reporter/anchor at KLBJ Radio in Austin. He began his broadcasting career while still in high school in Southern Oregon. During high school and college at the University of Oregon, he worked at times as a reporter, news anchor, sports play-by-play reporter, music host and commercial producer before moving to Texas in 2003.