What you need to know about Borders closings

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The Borders at 150 N. State — the last one open in the city — faces closure as the company goes to court today for OK to liquidate its assets. | Al Podgorski~Chicago Sun-Times

Updated: July 21, 2011 9:01AM

As Borders seeks to end its 40-year existence by liquidating its 399 stores nationwide — as soon as Friday if the court approves today — shoppers and bookstore fans must rush to redeem their gift cards and to find the best deals, experts say.

Here are the details you should know about navigating the sell-off of the inventory of the nation’s second-largest U.S. bookstore chain, including 13 Borders stores in the Chicago region:

Q. When will sales start?

A. Liquidation sales start Friday and usually take eight to 10 weeks to complete. Stores close as soon as the inventory is sold, so they could close sooner if the merchandise sells quickly.

Q. When will the stores close?

A. The store sites are slated to be sold by the end of September. The first wave of property auctions will take place from the end of August until the beginning of September, followed by a second wave from mid-September until the end of September. Most Chicago stores will be part of the second wave, said Andy Graiser, co-president of DJM Realty, the Melville, N.Y. company in charge of finding bidders for and disposing of the stores.

Q. How good will the bargains be?

A. Opening discounts start at up to 40 percent on all merchandise. The prices at which the discounts are taken are the level that Borders charged prior to its bankruptcy filing. Roughly $700 million of inventory will be on sale.

Q. What about my gift card?

A. Gift cards will be accepted and redeemed throughout the liquidation sales.

Q. What if I don’t have time to redeem my gift card?

A. In June, Chicago law firm Krislov and Associates won a bankruptcy judge’s ruling allowing gift-card holders of defunct Sharper Image stores to file for up to $100 apiece in unredeemed gift cards. No one knows whether such a settlement could happen for another retailer.

Q: What will fill up those empty stores?

A. Bidders who’ve expressed interest in the stores, which range in size from 10,000 to 40,000 square feet, include pet stores, dollar stores, party-supply retailers, specialty grocery stores, such as Trader Joe’s, existing landlords who are soliciting new tenants on their own and municipalities that may be interested in turning the stores into schools or community play centers, Graiser said.

Oak Park officials are courting Apple to open a computer store at the Borders site on Lake and Harlem. Apple expressed an interest in opening a store in Chicago’s Loop, at the Block 37 shopping center across the street from the Borders at 150 N. State. Apple pulled out of the Block 37 property without ever confirming that it was negotiating a lease there.

Q. Will we hear of Borders again?

A. A host of retailers, ranging from Montgomery Ward to Sharper Image to Bombay, have had their names purchased out of bankruptcy and resurrected for new purposes. Michael Stone, CEO of New York brand-licensing agency Beanstalk Group, speculated Tuesday that a buyer could repurpose Borders into a company that would help independent booksellers more easily order inventory from a central repository.