Bankruptcy auction scheduled for Borders brand, website, Waldenbooks brand
The Borders website and brand, shown here at the company's flagship store in downtown Ann Arbor, could be sold off in a bankruptcy auction.
Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com
Borders, which is liquidating the rest of its 399 stores and all of its assets, received approval today from a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in New York to auction off its intellectual property on Sept. 14.
Bids for the IP — which includes the Borders and Waldenbooks brands and Borders.com — are due by Sept. 8.
Borders could end up looking a lot like Circuit City, the defunct electronics retailer whose website was sold through the liquidation process to another firm and continues to operate.
Borders, which expects to close all of its stores no later than September, picked consultancy Streambank LLC to market its intellectual property.
"Borders has established a worldwide reputation as a leading destination for buyers of physical and digital media including books, eBooks, eReaders and related accessories," Streambank Principal David Peress said in a statement. "Borders remains engaged with its customers through the Borders.com e-commerce site which it expects to continue in business until transitioned to a new operator."
Also today, the court approved Borders' plan to auction off the rest of its store leases in separate sales Aug. 31 and Sept. 13, Reuters reported.
Here's what the real estate auction process will look like.
Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.
Comments
jns131
Thu, Aug 11, 2011 : 4:57 p.m.
I heard there is not much left at any of the stores. Maybe I might take a jaunt to the one in Canton and see. Otherwise, I could do for a new chair. I loved Borders and hate Barnes and Noble. Barnes has bad customer service. Guess I will take my biz to Amazon. Thanks for the update.