Expected Waldenbooks closings include local stores

Nov. 05, 2009

(AP) — Five Chicago-area Waldenbooks, Borders Outlet and Borders Express stores are among about 200 that parent company Borders Group Inc. plans to close in January as it focuses on its more profitable superstores.

The local stores on the company’s list of anticipated closings are the Waldenbooks at Westfield Fox Valley in Aurora, Lincolnwood Town Center in Lincolnwood, and River Oaks Center in Calumet City; the Borders Outlet at Gurnee Mills in Gurnee, and the Borders Express at the Louis Joliet Mall in Joliet.

Borders said Thursday that the list is not final and could change.

The only remaining Waldenbooks store in the Chicago area is at 500 W. Madison St., and the only other Borders Express is at the Westfield Chicago Ridge Shopping Mall in south suburban Chicago Ridge.

In an e-mail to Crain's, a spokeswoman says the company does not currently plan to close the two stores, "but cannot guarantee the long-term future of these stores or any others indefinitely. We regularly evaluate our stores to make sure they are meeting key business standards and make decisions on a case-by-case basis.

Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Borders, the second-largest U.S. bookstore chain, said the closings will result in the cutting of about 1,500 jobs, most of which are part-time.

Borders said the closings would leave open about 130 stores in its Waldenbooks Specialty Retail unit, which includes Waldenbooks and Borders Express stores. The company says the moves are part of its “ongoing strategy to right-size its Waldenbooks Specialty Retail segment and emerge with a smaller, more profitable mall chain in fiscal 2010.”

The company said the closings will not affect any Borders superstores or any of its mall kiosks, including 500 Day by Day Calendar Co. spots and other mall-based stores.

Borders has been slowly closing Waldenbooks. It shut down 112 stores fiscal 2008 and an average of about 66 stores each year between fiscal 2001 through 2007.

Michael Norris, senior trade analyst at Simba Information, said the move is a way to focus on superstores, which make more money and cost less per square foot to operate than smaller stores.

"In a way they kind of have to do this, because Barnes & Noble is ahead of them in phasing out small-format stores," he said.

Borders' chief rival, Barnes & Noble, based in New York, said last month it would close all of its remaining 50 B. Dalton stores by the end of January.

But Borders said it expects a smaller Waldenbooks segment, with 130 stores, can be profitable.

"We believe there remains an opportunity to profitably operate a much smaller Waldenbooks segment that complements our core Borders superstore business and continues to serve readers in their communities," Borders CEO Ron Marshall said in a statement.

Previously purchased gift cards will be valid as long as the stores remain open and at any Borders, Waldenbooks or Borders.com, the company said.

Borders shares rose 9 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $2.20 during aftermarket trading.