Borders Plans to Close Hundreds of Waldenbooks Stores
Borders has been struggling in the recession. Retailer Dailyreports that Borders sales fell over 15% in the fourth quarter and they are down over 10% this year. Sales at Waldenbooks have fallen by a smaller amount - about 5% - but Borders will be closing a bunch of them anyway reports Reuters. Reuters says Borders will leave only 50 to 60 of its Waldenbooks stores open.
Borders has been sharply cutting back on the number of Waldenbooks stores it operates, while also closing some of its namesake stores.
During the conference call, executives said the company was likely to eventually cut the number of Waldenbooks stores it operates to somewhere around 50 to 60 from the current level of more than 300.
Waldenbooks is a mall-based bookstore, which appear to be a dying breed in the 2000s. Retailer Dailysays that Borders is also projecting sales to continue to decline in 2009.
