State Prepares For Borders Closing

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Nearly 400 stores will close and an estimated 11,000 jobs wil be lost.

Between its Express stores and the strip mall behemoths, Borders Books actually had a pretty good presence across southern and central New Hampshire, and as far up as North Conway.  The fact that it closed wasn’t surprising to anyone who’s been following news from the chain over the past year or so.  But what was surprising, to me anyway, was reading in Ben Leubsdorf’s piece in the Concord Monitor how few people it actually took to run the big Borders store at  Fort Eddy Plaza in Concord.

“The Department of Employment Security will assist the roughly 25 employees who will lose their jobs when the Concord Borders store shuts down, the agency said yesterday.

Commissioner Tara Reardon said the department was in contact with Borders yesterday and will provide “rapid response services,” which include explaining benefits and rights to employees.

She said about 25 full- and part-time employees currently work at the Concord store in the Fort Eddy Plaza. That’s about half the number who worked there a few years ago, according to the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce.

Reardon said the agency wasn’t told when the store will actually close.”

The New Hampshire Business Review counted five Borders stores closing in the state–out of 399 nationwide.  That accounts for a little better than one percent of the chain’s total stores.  Yet to be counted is how many more New Hampshire booksellers will be out of work.