A federal bankruptcy judge has granted approval for bookstore giant Borders to go forward with liquidation, according to Reuters.
Borders Group, Inc. filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February, hoping to reorganize its finances and get back on track. However, declining sales and the increased public desire for e-books. Borders’ largest competitors are Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com, which produce the Nook and the Kindle e-readers; Borders was unable to compete in the online book race, and a much-hoped-for sale of the company to an equity firm fell through. With its options exhausted, Borders announced last week that it would be closing its hundreds of retail locations.
This approved liquidation, however, would allow nearly three dozen Borders stores to remain operating if Borders can come to an 11th-hour agreement with Alabama-based bookstore chain Books-a-Million. If the deal is reached, most of the stores remaining open would in the Northeast, including three stores in Maryland.
