Borders To File For Bankruptcy

Borders Books is expected to close 150 stores and file for bankruptcy in the next week. Analysts blame the Amazon Kindle, sort of.

Analysts have faulted Borders for being ill equipped to adapt to bookbuyers' migration to digital formats and for having too many stores in an age when many shoppers prefer to buy even paper books on line from retailers like Amazon.com. The chain operates 500 namesake superstores in addition to the smaller Waldenbooks chain. About three-quarter of its superstore leases expire in 2017 and beyond, according to a regulatory filing. Borders is late comer to the ebooks market, a rare source of growth in the publishing world, launching its ebook store eight months after its larger rival, Barnes & Noble Inc, and nearly three years after Amazon.com. Sales at stores open at least a year have plunged in recent years, with overall company sales down 37.3 percent in the last three years.