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Borders in administration
By insidebooks | November 30, 2009
This last week brought the sad news that Borders has gone into administration. The company lost over £13m last year and has struggled to find a buyer for the chain. Before a management buyout, it was owned by Luke Johnson (Chairman of Channel 4) and his private equity firm. They in turn had bought the chain from the US owners in 2007.
The first Borders superstore opened in Oxford Street in 1998. Borders had an urban bias, with a strong customer base amongst the 35-44 age bracket and an AB socio-demographic group. It sold a range of other products, including magazines, music, toys and DVDs, and had 45 stores.
A further decline in competition on the High Street is not good news for book buyers, and the problems faced by Borders can be attributed to the growth in discounted book sales through the Internet and supermarkets. Some are pinning their hopes on a revival of independent bookselling - see the article here by Rachel Cooke in the Observer.
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