Borders bookstore closings may include Arizona locations

Borders, the nation's second-largest bookstore chain, is set to close its 399 remaining stores. Their locations in Arizona are likely to be included.

Borders' liquidation could have far-reaching effects, putting thousands of people out of work at a time of high unemployment, particularly in Michigan where Borders is based. The chain's first store opened in 1971 and has been shrinking in recent years. It currently employs 10,700 employees.

The loss of Borders stores will deal a blow to malls nationwide, according to real estate sources. Borders stores average about 25,000 square feet, about half the size of a football field, and a liquidation could leave large empty spaces across the country.

At its peak, in 2003, Borders operated 1,249 Borders and Waldenbooks, but by the time it filed for bankruptcy protection in February that had fallen to 642 stores and 19,500 employees. Since then, Borders has shuttered more stores and laid off thousands.

The rise of e-book readers and changing customer shopping habits have contributed to Borders' downturn, and some are unhappy to hear news of the closings.

"So where are we going to buy books from?" asks Tanya Ellis of Southfield, Mich. "I just got into reading books the last two or three years, and they just keep closing all these bookstores," she said, adding that electronic readers aren't an option for her. "It takes all the fun out of it."

Justin Grant, 31, from Brooklyn, however, was less phased. Although he had just picked up a parenting book to read on his commute home recently, he said he buys most of the 25 to 30 books he reads a year on Amazon.

"It's much easier to get them through the mail and delivered to my desk at work," he said.

Borders joins retailers Circuit City Stores Inc., Blockbuster, and Linens `N Things in closing all of its stores nationwide in recent years.