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Liquidation Begins At All Borders Bookstores

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Borders Group is beginning liquidation sales at all of its 399 stores.

A liquidation company that is part of the process said late Thursday that the sales will be held starting Friday at all 259 Borders superstores, 114 Borders Express and Waldenbooks, and 26 Borders airport stores.

The book store has a significant presence in Manhattan's Time Warner Center.

Gordon Brothers Group, part of a group of liquidators leading the sales, says more than $700 million of the company's inventory, including books, stationery, music and movies will be sold.

Store fixtures, furnishings and equipment, including shelving and, in some cases, cafe equipment, will also be sold off.

Some stores may remain open as Books-A-Million stores. That chain is bidding for leases and assets of 30 Borders stores.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February.

It has been a long fall for the Ann Arbor, Mich., company, which 15 years ago appeared to be the future of bookselling. But big-box bookstores have struggled as competition has become increasingly tough as books become available in more locations, from Costco to Walmart, online sales grow and electronic books gain in popularity.

Borders also suffered from a series of errors: failing to catch onto the growing importance of the Web and electronic books, not reacting quickly enough to declining music and DVD sales, and hiring four CEOs in 5 years without book-selling experience.

What do you think of Borders shutting down? Sound off in our comments section below…

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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