Sale signs go up at crisis bookshop chain Borders

Published on Monday 30 November 2009 21:15

BOOKSHOP chain Borders UK has launched closing-down sales across all its 45 outlets, despite the administrators saying that a buyer is still being sought for the company.

Last Thursday, joint administrators Phil Duffy, Geoff Bouchier and David Whitehouse, of MCR, were appointed. On Saturday, sales were started, offering between 20 per cent and 50 per cent off all books in Borders and the group's Books Etc stores.

There are five Borders outlets in Scotland – two in Glasgow and others in Edinburgh, Dundee and Inverness.

Duffy, a partner at MCR, said: "We are now pursuing parallel administration strategies – continuing to seek a purchaser for all or some of the company's stores, while conducting store closing-down sales.

"Considerable interest has been expressed either in the business and/or certain stores, and this interest is actively being pursued."

Some 36 staff were yesterday made redundant at Borders' head office in London. A spokesman said that represented the majority of the head-office workforce.

Duffy said: "We have undertaken a review of the company's business and operations in the context of an administration and consequently identified a number of positions that have become redundant."

He said the move did not effect the business at store level and that no redundancies had been made in branch outlets.

MCR is hoping to sell the entire group as a going concern, but has admitted it is a tough retail market. HMV, which owns rival bookshop chain Waterstone's, has been rumoured as a possible buyer of at least some of the stores. WH Smith walked away from the potential purchase of 22 stores last month.

But MCR has refused to rule out the liquidation of the chain, which would result in the loss of all 1,150 jobs.

Borders has suffered from increased competition from online retailers and supermarkets.

It is thought that Paperchase, the stationery retailer, could lose nearly 10 million of annual sales if Borders' stores close. Coffee shop Starbucks, computer game specialist Game and gadget retailer Red5 also face lost sales, if MCR fails to find a buyer who wants to keep their presence in the stores.