I remember back in the late 1990s and early 2000s when Borders outperformed Barnes & Noble (B&N) on sales per square foot on a per-store basis. Now, B&N is doing fine, while Borders is tottering on the edge of bankruptcy. What in the world happened over the past decade?
Borders canceled Thursday’s (July 21, 2011) auction to keep a smaller but still significant retail concern going. (It’s hard to have an auction when there are no bidders.) That means the 399 stores on the “short list” for a leaner and meaner Borders will be liquidated. Landlords and other creditors protested plans to save the company and are now protesting the plan to close the company’s doors, so there may be some death throes—but sadly, it looks like the end is here.
Company President Mike Edwards said “We were all working hard towards a different outcome, but the headwinds we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly changing book industry, eReader revolution, and turbulent economy, have brought us to where we are now.”
If B&N is doing great—or at least holding its own in the same turbulent conditions—what happened to Borders?