5 LI locations involved in Borders liquidation
The Borders Books and Music Cafe in Farmingdale is facing closure as the national book chain liquidates. An auction July 18, 2011, to keep the company operating was unsuccessful. Credit: Kevin P Coughlin, 2011
There will be no storybook ending for Borders. The 40-year-old book seller could start shuttering its 399 remaining stores as early as Friday.
The Michigan-based chain, Borders Group, which helped pioneer the big-box bookseller concept, is seeking court approval to sell off its assets after it failed to receive any bids at auction that would keep it in business.
The company website shows five locations on Long Island -- Farmingdale, Syosset, Stony Brook, Bohemia and Valley Stream -- as well as LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports. The company closed two stores -- Commack and Westbury -- after filing for bankruptcy in February. Those closings affected about 65 employees
The move adds Borders to the list of retailers that have failed to survive the economic downturn, including the brick-and-mortar Circuit City Stores Inc., Blockbuster and Linens 'N Things.
"It saddens me. It adds to the unemployment and lets me know this economy is not really picking up as they are saying. I feel for the families that are going to be faced without a job," said shopper Turesa Lewis, 57, before entering a Borders store in the Detroit suburb of Beverly Hills.
Lewis blamed Borders' troubles partly on the technology that lets people read books online. "I think a hardcover book is the best when it comes to reading," she said. "Things are changing a bit too fast."
Newsday staff writers Carrie Mason-Draffen and Ellen Yan contributed to this story.
