11:41am Monday 21st December 2009
By Matt Smith
BOOK giant Borders will close the doors to its major Southampton store tomorrow after administrators admitted defeat in attempts to find a buyer for the troubled chain.
The failure to come up with a rescue deal leaves around 50 staff at the West Quay Retail Park store facing a bleak Christmas.
The 10,0000 sq ft store, which also hosts a Starbucks coffee shop, will cease trading at 8pm tomorrow.
It comes as a blow to city centre managers after the number of vacant shop units in the city had levelled off at around 140 with rising interest from pontential tenants.
Administrators MCR were called in at the end of November but said it had “not been possible to agree a sale of any part of the [Borders] business as a going concern”.
Waterstone’s parent HMV and WH Smith are understood to have been in discussions but could not reach a deal.
Borders, which has 45 branded Borders and Books Etc stores across the UK, had come under severe pressure from online booksellers and supermarkets and was reporting rising losses.
The company had already stopped taking orders on its website and launched “closing down” sales at some stores.
Southampton city centre manager Ian Welland said: “It’s a sad loss. It’s a shame that no buyer could have been found.
“For some time there has been a good trade down there but the recession has taken its toll. I think most of us underestimated the way internet shopping was going to go.”
Mr Welland said he thought the Borders unit would be quickly filled.
Borders was originally owned by the US book giant of the same name, but the UK and Ireland arm was sold to buyout group Risk Capital Partners in 2007.
Management, led by chief executive Philip Downer and finance director Mark Little, then bought the group back with financing from Valco Capital in July this year.
The firm’s last set of financial figures show pre-tax losses jumped from £10.3m to £13.6m.
MCR said they would continue to negotiate with “a number of parties” about a sale of the assets of the business.
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