WSJ: Borders Bookstores to Close

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that chain bookstore Borders will likely be shutting down after failing to get a substantive bid during its bankruptcy process, which began in February.

Borders, which began in 1971, has 399 stores nationwide, employing 10,700 people. It has 12 stores in Florida.

If a last-second bid does not come down by the end of the week, the company and its assets will be sold to Hilco and Gordon Brothers for liquidation, with sales set to begin Friday.

A Borders executive blamed the harsh economic downturn and the boom in e-books for the store's failure. From the WSJ piece:

Following the best efforts of all parties, we are saddened by this development, said Borders Group President Mike Edwards. We were all working hard toward a different outcome, but the headwinds we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly changing book industry, eReader revolution, and turbulent economy, have brought us to where we are now, he added.