The History of Borders

Brothers Tom and Louis Borders opened the first Borders store, a used bookstore called Borders Book Shop, on South State Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1971. During the 1970s, Louis developed a software system that allowed for the management of inventory and accurate sales projections, which gave Borders a significant competitive edge for years to come. In 1988, Robert DiRomualdo was recruited to lead the company's expansion and by the early 1990s, Borders had expanded into a prominent national chain. In 1991, Borders began selling movies and music in some of its stores. By 1992, Borders was operating with 21 large stores. That same year, Kmart Corp. acquired Borders and created the Borders-Walden Group. Two years later, Borders’ flagship store moved from its original location to East Liberty Street; the new store then became the largest retailer in Ann Arbor at the time. In 1995, the chain was renamed to Borders Group Inc., spun off from Kmart, and taken public on the New York Stock Exchange under CEO Robert DiRomualdo; its shares reached an all-time high in 1997. In 1998, Borders launched Borders.com and from January 1998 to January 1999, Borders added 52 superstores for a total of 256 superstore locations. In 1999, Greg Josefowicz took over as CEO and in 2001, the company contracted with Amazon to sell products online (this would later be considered a misstep). In 2004, Borders began branding some Waldenbooks locations under the name Borders Express. In 2004, Borders signed a deal with Starbucks to run café operations in some of its stores. A loyalty program called Borders Rewards was launched in 2006, but the company began to see significant declines in the late aughts. By 2009, Borders had fewer than 175 small-format stores; back in 1995, the chain had operated over 1,100 of them. Then on February 16, 2011, Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection but without any successful bids, the company was forced to liquidate later that year. Today, there are no more Borders stores in operation, but loyal fans of the bookstore chain remember it fondly.