Borders was a US-based bookseller, headquartered in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metropol ...

that also specialized in CDs,

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

calendars A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is also a physi ...

stationery Stationery refers to commercially manufactured writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, writing implements, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery includes materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) ...

, gift packs and related merchandising in the Pacific area of Asia and Australasia. It had stores internationally in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. All of the stores also were fitted with Gloria Jeans Coffees cafés. The company was the Asia-pacific franchisee of the US bookseller of the same name, but was sold off in 2007 and licensed the Borders brandname for its remaining years.

History

Borders started in 1997 with the opening of its first store in Singapore; it then later expanded to open Borders stores in Australia and New Zealand. Like its U.S. parent, it sold books, CDs, DVDs and stationery. All of the stores also had Gloria Jean's Coffee shop concessions in them. The second outlet in Singapore was opened at Parkway Parade in 2007. To pay off debt,

Borders Group Borders Group, Inc. (former NYSE ticker symbol BGP) was an American multinational book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. In its final year, the company employed about 19,500 people throughout the U.S., primarily in ...

sold all of its Australian, New Zealand and Singaporean stores to

Pacific Equity Partners Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) is a private equity investment firm focusing on transactions in Australia and New Zealand. PEP invests across a range of industries and sectors and in turnaround and growth capital transactions. The firm is based i ...

(owner of competitor

Angus & Robertson Angus & Robertson (A&R) is a major Australian bookseller, publisher and printer. As book publishers, A&R has contributed substantially to the promotion and development of Australian literature.Alison, Jennifer (2001). "Publishers and editors: A ...

) in 2008. A new company called

REDgroup Retail REDgroup Retail was the former parent (private equity) company of the Australian and New Zealand divisions of Borders. It also owned other retail entities such as Angus & Robertson in Australia and Whitcoulls in New Zealand. REDgroup Retail al ...

was formed. After this transaction, the Borders stores in the US, the UK (which had also been sold off to another company but closed down in 2009 due to entering administration) and the Asia/Pacific region were owned by three wholly independent entities. In late July 2012, Pearson Australia Group decided to re-brand the former Borders website as Bookworld. Chief Executive James Webber told The Australian "The Borders brand had lost its former sheen. We just believe the Borders brand has had its day. There are no stores left and globally it's been in demise so we believe there's an opportunity to revitalise (the franchise) and move it forward." All of its existing customer base was migrated over to the new Bookworld website. The Bookworld brand was itself also later rebranded as Angus & Robertson.

Administration

On 17 February 2011,

(including the Borders,

as well as

Whitcoulls Whitcoulls is a major New Zealand book, stationery, gift, games & toy retail chain. Formerly known as Whitcombe & Tombs, it has 54 stores nationally. Whitcombe & Tombs was founded in 1888, and Coulls Somerville Wilkie in 1871. The companies mer ...

chains) were placed into

voluntary administration As a legal concept, administration is a procedure under the insolvency laws of a number of common law jurisdictions, similar to bankruptcy in the United States. It functions as a rescue mechanism for insolvent entities and allows them to carry o ...

with

Ferrier Hodgson Ferrier Hodgson was a firm specialising in corporate recovery, corporate advisory, forensic accounting and forensic IT. The firm has a specialist management consulting arm called Azurium. Ferrier Hodgson was established in 1976. It became on ...

appointed as administrators. The immediate aftermath of the announcement saw the closure of 48 Angus & Robertson stores and one Borders store. The day after the announcement, customers of the surviving stores were informed that

gift voucher A gift card also known as gift certificate in North America, or gift voucher or gift token in the UK is a prepaid stored-value money card, usually issued by a retailer or bank, to be used as an alternative to cash for purchases within a parti ...

s could only be redeemed if they also spent an equivalent amount in cash. After 3 April, unused vouchers became void. On 6 April, RedGroup Retail announced that 16 of the 25 remaining Borders stores in Australia were to close within two months. The handling of the administration prompted 25 franchised Angus & Robertson stores to sever ties with RedGroup, rebranding themselves as independents. By the end of May, 70 of the 87 RedGroup-owned bookstores in New Zealand had been sold off: ten airport-based Whitcoulls stores to Australian-based LS Travel Retail Pacific, and another 57 Whitcoulls plus five Borders stores to the

James Pascoe Group The James Pascoe Ltd Group of Companies is a privately owned New Zealand retail group with holdings across New Zealand and Australia. JPG owns and operates chains Pascoes the Jewellers, Stewart Dawsons and Goldmark (all jewellers); department ...

. On 2 June 2011, the administrator announced the closure of the remaining nine Borders stores, as no buyer could be found. All stores in Australia were closed by July 2011. The flagship Borders store at Wheelock Place in Singapore was suddenly closed on 16 August 2011, and was forced to clear out by 23 August 2011. Vouchers and gift cards from Borders Singapore bookstore were no longer accepted. After hearing that the Borders store at Wheelock Place was shutting down, some people tried to use their vouchers on the Saturday at its other outlet at Parkway Parade, but they were not allowed to do so. The books were cleared at a sale held at Singapore Expo Hall 4B, from 10am to 10pm, from 2 September 2011 to 6 September 2011. The remaining store closed on 26 September 2011 at 9 p.m., ending 14 years of sales in Singapore, just before the lease was due to end in October, but not before discounts of 70% to clear all items which started three days before its closure. On the last hours of its business in Singapore, shelves, signs, baskets and computers at the cashiers' counters were also available for sale.

Stores

In total Borders had 33 stores located across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. All were closed due to the demise of the parent company

References

{{Retailers in New Zealand Bookshops of Australia Bookshops of New Zealand Retail companies of Singapore Companies based in Melbourne Bookstores established in the 20th century Retail companies established in 1997 Retail companies disestablished in 2012 Defunct companies of Australia Defunct companies of New Zealand Defunct companies of Singapore

History

Administration

Stores

See also

References