(sometimes written '''BORDERS''') () is an international bookseller based in
Ann Arbor ,
Michigan . Borders is a
Fortune 500 company, and is (as of 2005) the second-largest bookstore chain in the
United States (after
Barnes & Noble ), selling a wide variety of
Books ,
CD s,
DVD s,
Periodical s, as well as gifts and stationery. Borders owns a majority stake in
Paperchase Products Limited, a leading gifts and stationery retailer in the
United Kingdom , and showcases their products in their stores, as well as
Books Etc. ,
Tim Waterstone's other, mostly London based bookshop chain. In 2004, Borders reached an agreement with
Starbucks subsidiary
Seattle's Best Coffee , and is converting all their in-store cafes to the new brand. Some Borders' in-store cafes in Australia have Gloria Jeans branded coffee houses in place of
Starbucks .
The original Borders bookstore is located in
Ann Arbor, Michigan , where it was founded in 1971 by brothers
Tom and
Louis Borders . The Borders brothers' inventory system tailored each store's offerings to the community it was in. This may have contributed to the chain's rapid expansion nationwide.
K-Mart acquired Borders' rival
Waldenbooks in
1984 , but a stock buyback enabled Borders and Waldenbooks to form its own corporation, the Borders Group. There are now approximately 462 Borders stores across the United States, and around 700 Waldenbooks and Borders Express stores in malls across America. Borders also has another 44 international stores outside the country in the
United Kingdom ,
Australia ,
New Zealand ,
Puerto Rico , and
Singapore , and 35
Books Etc. stores throughout Britain. However due to the fierce competition in the UK marketplace a number of these
Books Etc. stores will be closed and will be replaced by larger Borders stores in retail parks on the edge of town, like in the case of the Manchester Books etc. store at
The Printworks that was replaced by Borders at
Manchester Fort .
The music sections of Borders stores feature a wide variety of music styles and artists and typically have 100 or so current releases set up for individual listening.
On February 21st, 2006, Borders launched the Borders Rewards program, a free customer loyalty card that earn people rewards when the they shop at any US Borders, Borders Express, Borders Airport, or Waldenbooks.
,
Michigan .]]
,
Dubuque, Iowa .]]
In April, 2005, Borders Group opened its first franchise store with
Malaysia 's Berjaya Group Berhad in
Kuala Lumpur . It is located in
Berjaya Times Square , which is arguably the worlds biggest mall with 7,500,000 square feet (700,000 m²). Incidentally, the store in Berjaya Times Square is advertised as being the worlds biggest Borders at 60,000 square feet (5,600 m²). This is almost twice the next largest bookstore in Malaysia,
MPH Bookstore at
1 Utama ,
Bandar Utama 40,000 square feet (3,700 m²).
The
Essayist Sven Birkerts worked at the flagship Borders store on State Street in
Ann Arbor during the
1970s and wrote about his experiences in ''
The Gutenberg Elegies .'' Writer
Benjamin Cheever also wrote about his brief tenure as a Borders employee in ''
Selling Ben Cheever ''.
Borders received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the
Human Rights Campaign starting in 2004, the third year of the report.
Borders retail employees at two store locations in
Minneapolis-St. Paul and
Ann Arbor are currently represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union (
UFCW ). More information about Borders workers union organizing efforts and an employee discussion board can be found at
www.bordersunion.org .
On
March 29 ,
2006 , in response to the ongoing controversy over
Cartoons Depicting The Prophet Muhammad , Borders Group announced that Waldenbooks and Borders bookstores would decline to carry the April-May issue of
Free Inquiry magazine, because of that magazine's decision to publish some of the controversial cartoons.
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