General

What goes up must come down

Borders’ financial struggles and the slow death of the book trade

Borders, the giant American bookstore chain, announced it would close its largest store early next year. Chicago’s Michigan Avenue store, on the city’s Magnificent Mile, opened in 1995, and at 49,881 square feet is almost twice the size of regular Borders. Independent bookshop owners, who struggled against the 1990s expansion of the chain, just as their Canadian counterparts reacted to Chapters and Indigo, were surprisingly unhappy at the news. “Ten years ago, I would have hooted and hollered,” said Linda Bubon, co-owner of Chicago’s Women & Children First bookstore. “Today, I think it’s a real tragedy for the bookselling industry. Publishers will want their money sooner, contracts will be cancelled, and print runs will be reduced. I fear for publishers that might be brought down by this.”

Publishers Weekly

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