生意冷清书店Borders在湾区关闭至少12家分店。（侨报记者陆杰夫摄）
全国知名的连锁书店Borders日前宣布，即将关闭数百家分布在各地的分店(其中包括湾区12家分店)，以及申请破产保护的举措，对于喜爱逛书店的华裔读者而言，意味着今后在湾区选择浏览书店的数量将会更少。
资料显示，湾区Borders书店将要关闭的12家分店，主要分布在圣荷西（2家）、旧金山（2家）、拉斯盖图（1家）、阿拉米达（1家）、佛利蒙（1家）、帕瑟顿（1家）、圣马刁（1家）、圣拉蒙（1家）、圣塔克鲁兹（1家），以及联合城（1家）。此外，位于斯托克顿和莫德斯托的2家分店也将被关闭。
幸运的是，还有数十家Borders书店仍继续在湾区经营，其中包括南湾华裔聚居的苗必达、帕洛阿图、桑尼维尔等城市。
16日中午，记者来到苗必达市的Borders分店，与店员史考特聊起书店关闭的消息。他说自己听到这一不幸消息感到非常难过，并相信对许多读者也是一个不小的打击。他说，公司总部早有传言要在全国范围内关闭数百家连锁店，但大家都不清楚到底要关哪一家，以致在分店的管理层和店员都忧心重重，因为一旦自己上班的分店被列为关闭对象的话，店里的多数员工都将面临失业。
现在关闭分店的消息一经公布，史考特松了一口气，因为至少他上班的苗必达市分店幸运地没有被列入“黑名单”。他还透露，湾区12家分店关闭的主要原因，一是生意不佳，二是租金太贵。他特别例举圣荷西位于Santana Row 的分店，号称全湾区各分店中生意最好，但苦于难以支付昂贵的租金，而被列入关闭行列。
正好在书店浏览的张先生也表示，逛书店是他多年养成的习惯，对Borders书店宣布关闭部分分店的消息，他颇感惊讶，可想而知，网上书店或电子阅览器等新一波的网络科技，对传统式书店经营的冲击有多大了。
NEW YORK/WILMINGTON, Delaware | NEW YORK/WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - Borders Group Inc filed for bankruptcy protection and said it would close about one-third of its bookstores, after years of shriveling sales that made it impossible to manage its crushing debt load. The long-expected Chapter 11 filing will give the second-largest U.S. bookstore chain a chance to try to fix its finances and overhaul its business in an attempt to survive the growing popularity of online bookbuying and digital formats. But the chain still faces questions about its longer-term survival in the face of competition from larger rival Barnes & Noble Inc and discounters such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Costco Wholesale Corp, as well as from Web retailer Amazon.com Inc and from Apple Inc in electronic books. Borders President Mike Edward said his chain "does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor." He said the bankruptcy was essential for Borders to restructure its debt and still operate. Borders, which was founded in 1971 and bought by Kmart in 1992, had liabilities of $1.29 billion and assets of $1.28 billion as of December 25, according to documents filed on Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Borders has had net losses totaling $680.6 million since the beginning of its 2007 fiscal year. The pioneer of book superstores plans to abandon some of its highest profile locations, closing a store in its hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan, as well as one on Manhattan's Park Avenue. All 200 closings will be superstores, and about 6,000 jobs will be affected, the company said. It has the option of closing up to 275 in all, according to court documents. It said the stores it wants to close lose a combined $2 million a week. The closings will start by Saturday. The company said it will honor gift cards. Borders operates 642 stores, including about 500 superstores as well as more than 100 smaller Waldenbooks locations. Almost all of the stores closed by the company in recent years were Waldenbooks locations. "Waldenbooks really is a specialty retailer," said Mark Freiman, a retail consultant with Focus Management Group. "Borders is category killer and essentially a category killer in book is going to go away. There is no question about it." The largest U.S. bookstore chain, Barnes & Noble, has had success with its Nook e-reader and online store, allowing it to stay in contention with online book pioneer Amazon.com. Borders has lagged well behind. Borders made a major strategic error in 2001 when it handed off its online business to Amazon. It relaunched borders.com in 2008, but in the first three quarters of 2010, online sales made up only 2.3 percent of revenues. The chain's difficulties have been worsened by the revolving door in its executive suite in recent years. The company has had four chief executive officers in the past three years and two chief financial officers in 2010. Sales declined by double-digit percentage rates in 2008, 2009 and in the first three fiscal quarters of 2010. During those nine months, sales came to $1.54 billion. SMALL BOOST FOR B&N? The bankruptcy could help sales of traditional books at Barnes & Noble, at least temporarily, analysts said. Credit Suisse estimates that 70 percent of Borders stores are near a Barnes & Noble store. Barnes & Noble operates 717 superstores.
