The good years
1971: Two brothers Tom and Louis Borders, set up the first Borders in 1971
during their undergraduate and graduate years at the University of Michigan.
1992: Borders is acquired in 1992 by Kmart.
1995: Kmart
allows Borders to buy itself out.
1997: The company establishes its first international store in Singapore.
It subsequently opens another 41 stores in the United Kingdom, Ireland,
Australia, and New Zealand, and buys 35 Books etc. stores throughout Britain.
1998: Borders (UK) Ltd. is established as a Borders Group subsidiary.
The transition
21 September 2007: Risk Capital Partners, a private equity fund led by
Luke Johnson, chairman of Channel 4, buys Borders/Books etc for a £10 million
up-front cash payment and an additional payment of up to £10 million of
deferred cash consideration, payment of which is contingent on the future
performance of the business. Borders Group retains a 17% stake in the UK business. Borders Group’s
UK and Ireland subsidiaries record sales of approximately £223 million for
the year ending February 2007
“We believe
passionately in the future of books and think Borders has a great formula,”
says Johnson. “Book buyers
want to browse and receive a personal and intelligent service. And we believe Borders is the leader in delivering just that."
The final six months
16 July 2009: Philip Downer chief executive of Borders
UK and finance director Mark Little lead a management buyout of the chain,
backed by Valco Capital Partners (VCP), part of the distressed debt specialist
Hilco. "We are
delighted that we have been able to secure the future for Borders in what are
exceptional times for UK retailing and the global economy," says Downer. "The Borders
management team looks forward to continuing to develop our innovative approach
to bookselling, driving sustained growth and success in the future, and
strengthening our unique position in the UK book market."
26 November 2009: Borders (UK) Ltd is placed into administration. MCR
are the administrators.
30 November 09:
The Bookseller
opens a comments thread for use by Borders staff and other interested parties.
Among the
comments:
"I've done a ton
of crappy retail jobs before and this was by far the best crappy retail job
I've ever had."
"
I love workin at
Borders, they accept me for who I am and its a great job, totally hope someone
buys, I wanna keep workin with all the great people at Borders."
" I'm absolutely
gutted, this is by far the best job i've had and i've had a few! I work with a
fantastic team of people who i'm really going to miss and who, with all the
crap we've been getting hit with, really pulled together. The management team
in particular worked hundreds of extra hours all unpaid because we loved the
company, the job, our store. I doubt i'll experience that sort of camaraderie
again."
"I've been
watching the spiraling descent of Borders for some time and, given that many
of our best people have been hired straight from Borders, I have nothing but
full respect for the staff who I reckon are brilliant under the circumstances
they have been forced to work under. You guys rock." "
our
administrator is a bit creepy..today is going to be shit."
"Better
management would have been worth a few percentage points on sales (and fewer
grey hairs on the heads of the Borders staff) but it would not have changed the
worsening fundamentals of the business. Let's remember that this is not only
bad news for the folk at Borders - with whom I have the greatest sympathy at
this difficult time - but a stark indicator of the painful structural change
that is upon our industry. Web retailers and supermarkets will together have
half of the book market in the next three years.
09 December 09: Downer confirms his departure from the business
after MCR makes a second wave of redundancies at the retailer's London head
office.
16 December 2009
From the Borders
Insider blog on the Bookseller website:
"... Parents want
chairs from the kids department, they want to remember good times they had
there. Or so they say, maybe they just want cheap chairs."
18 December 2009: MCR confirms
that all 45 Borders and Books Etc stores will close on 22 December.
Borders UK employed
1,150 people in total. "The joint administrators have been pursuing a sale
of the business," MCR says. "However, it has not been possible to
agree a sale of any part of the business as a going concern."
18 December 2009:
MCR faces
Hachette UK in the High Court after the latter tries to stop Borders selling
its titles in the closing down sales. The judge sides with Hachette UK, but MCR
has already removed Hachette titles from the shelves.
21 December 2009: A bid to
rescue a number of stores is rejected by MCR. A spokesman for MCR confirms that
unsuccessful bids had been made which failed to meet expectations, but added
that it was continuing to look at "suitable offers" for the stores. Richard
Joseph, who with his father Philip founded the Books Etc chain that was later
sold to Borders, came to the UK to negotiate a deal to save "a bunch of
stores". "I made a serious attempt to buy a
bunch of stores, but it's not going happen," Joseph says. "All I can
tell you is that I tried really hard. I feel terrible for the Borders people,
the Starbucks people, everyone."
