Borders Books: Ann Arbor Rare Books, an Amazon Handoff and a Gulf Afterlife

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Brothers Tom and Louis Borders, students at the University of Michigan, opened a small Ann Arbor bookshop in 1971, with 1975 seen as the turning point when they bought the inventory of an 80-year-old shop. They avoided textbooks and hired rare book manager Michael Hildebrand and restorer Harvey James Robin, who set up a bindery upstairs. Robert F. DiRomualdo arrived in 1989 to expand the chain, and in October 1992 Kmart bought Borders hoping its managers could rescue Waldenbooks; many Borders executives resigned instead. In 1995 Kmart spun off the book division as Borders Group Inc., with Waldenbooks still attached.

By 2003 there were 1,249 stores under both names, including a Puerto Rico superstore taking in $17 million a year, a store at Five World Trade Center destroyed on September 11, and Singapore's Wheelock Place, the top earner per square meter in 2006. That was the last profitable year. From 2001 to 2007 Borders.com ran on Amazon's back end, and its own site launched only in 2008, the year it took a $42.5 million loan from Pershing Square at 12.5 percent. Borders filed for Chapter 11 on February 16, 2011, with over $1.2 billion in debt, creditors rejected bids including Direct Brands' $215 million offer, and the case moved to Chapter 7 liquidation, with Barnes & Noble buying the trademarks and customer list. Al Maya Group, a UAE franchisee since 2006, bought the regional trademark rights in 2015 and still runs Borders stores in the Gulf.

• In 1994 Borders briefly ran mall toy kiosks called All Wound Up.
• Borders Rewards was free while Barnes & Noble charged an annual membership fee.
• Shares fell to 53 cents by January 2009, and former CEO George L. Jones left with over $2 million in severance.
• Borders partnered with Kobo on e-reader apps only in 2010, years after the Kindle.
• The UK and Ireland stores entered administration in 2009, while the Malaysian stores lasted independently until 2023.