Borders is Liquidating, Closing Remaining 399 Stores: It's Official

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Borders was among the pioneers of the "big box" book retailers, growing in the 1990s to more than 1,000 stores nationwide, but the company has lost money for five years despite shedding stores.

The company held out slim hope of finding some savior late into Monday of some sort of deal with Books-A-Million, which operates 231 stores in 23 states.

But those discussions, like others the company entertained, did not materialze. Borders has 399 stores in America and 10,700 employees. All employees will lose their jobs and all of the Borders stores will close.

Borders has more than 200 superstores in America, spread throughout the country in malls and other prime real estate locations. Borders stores average about 25,000 square feet, or half the size of a football field, so the sudden departure of 400 locations will create large empty spaces in many properties.

Borders had set a deadline for 5 p.m. Sunday for offers as the company navigates through U.S. Bankruptcy Court, trying to avoid liquidation, but no offers were obtained.

Borders had appeared in the past two week to find a purchaser, but private-equity investor Najafi Co.'s $215 million offer for Borders is no longer on the table. The company's head, Jahm Najafi, told Bloomberg through e-mail response his company would not participate in the auction. Najafi's bid faced opposition in bankruptcy court from creditors who feared his company planned only to liquidate Borders.

Najafi says he tried to remove a clause in his offer allowing him to liquidate Borders to satisfy creditors by working with large U.S. publishers to get satisfactory shipping terms for new product, but at least one would not agree, and Najafi says he hs backed off completely -- leaving Borders facing liquidation if another buyer is not found immediately.

Borders Group President Mike Edwards told the Wall Street Journal Sunday in an interview the retailer had received some inquiries over the weekend. "Hopefully we'll see a positive outcome," he said.

But a deal never materialized, signaling the end for the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company. Still, last-minute efforts were sought but nothing was worked out.