Business & Tech

Mansfield Borders to Close, Company Forced to Liquidate

The company was unable to reach a deal and the East Brook Mall location is on the chopping block.

Borders, the nationwide book and music chain operating under bankruptcy protection, could start closing its remaining stores as early as this weekend.

Borders Group Inc., Borders’ parent company, announced Monday afternoon that it plans to sell the company to a group of liquidators, effectively closing the company's final 399 stores, including Mansfield’s Borders Express, located in the East Brook Mall.

"Following the best efforts of all parties, we are saddened by this development," said Borders Group President Mike Edwards in a statement released by the company. "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," said Edwards.

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In February, Borders announced that it was filing for federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. By June, Reuters reported that Borders was able to , one being Mansfield’s.

Since then, the company has been working to reach extensions with as many of its stores as possible, but Borders said “in the absence of a formal proposal,” the company was unable to find a buyer, and an auction to keep the business in operation had been canceled.

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The liquidation process is expected to begin as early as Friday, July 22. The closures will cost 10,700 employees their jobs, according to the company.


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