The 40-year-old company plans to close about 200 of its 642 stores over the next few weeks. All of the stores closed will be superstores, Borders spokeswoman Mary Davis said. The company also operates smaller Waldenbooks and Borders Express stores.
Clearance sales could begin as early as this weekend, according to documents filed with the US Bankruptcy Court in New York.
Borders said it is losing about $A2.01 million a day at the stores it plans to close.
Cautious consumer spending, negotiations with vendors and a lack of liquidity made it clear Borders "does not have the capital resources it needs to be a viable competitor," Borders Group Inc. President Mike Edwards said in a written statement.
Borders plans to operate normally and honour gift cards and its loyalty program as it reorganises.
The company will receive $US505 million ($A508.3 million) in debtor-in-possession financing from GE Capital and others to help
it reorganise.
According to the Chapter 11 filing, Borders had $US1.28 billion ($A1.29 billion) in assets and $US1.29 billion ($A1.3 billion) in debts as of Dec. 25.
It owes tens of millions of dollars to publishers, including $A41.37 million to Penguin Putnam, $A37.14 million to Hachette Book Group, $A34.02 million to Simon & Schuster and $A33.72 million to Random House.
It's significant that Borders could not reach an agreement with creditors and file a "prepackaged bankruptcy." Said Nejat Seyhun, a bankruptcy expert at the University of Michigan.
It could be a sign that creditors do not believe Borders will be a "viable operation going forward," Seyhun said.
Activist investor William Ackman, whose Pershing Square Management Co. has a nearly 15 per cent stake in the company, also stands to be a big loser. Shareholders are often wiped out in a reorganisation.
He offered to finance a $16-per-share Borders-led takeover bid for rival Barnes & Noble in December, but nothing materialised.
The filing was expected, but it is far from clear if it will be enough to save the company.
"They are going to have to be an entirely different company than the one that went into bankruptcy protection if they want to emerge successfully," said Jim McTevia, managing partner of turnaround firm McTevia & Associates in Bingham Farms, Mich.
It has been a long fall for the Ann Arbor, Mich., company, which 15 years ago appeared to be the future of bookselling.
Big-box bookstores have struggled as competition has become increasingly tough as books become available in more locations, from Costco to Walmart, online sales grow and electronic books gain in popularity.
Borders also suffered from a series of errors: failing to catch onto the growing importance of the web and electronic books, not reacting quickly enough to declining music and DVD sales, and hiring four CEOs in 5 years without book-selling experience.
"Books and content just became so available at so many other locations, online and offline, the 'grow, rinse, repeat' mindset just wouldn't work anymore," said Michael Norris, senior trade analyst at Simba Information.
In addition, Americans are simply buying fewer books. Sales fell nearly 5 per cent in 2010 to 717.8 million from 751.7 million last year, according to Nielsen, which tracks about 70 per cent of book sales but doesn't include Walmart stores.
For book lovers who like to shop in stores, the news was worrisome.
"It's just really sad to hear that happening," said Monika Barera, 50, shopping Wednesday at a Borders store in its hometown of Ann Arbor, Mich. The downtown store she was shopping at isn't closing, but four others in Michigan are. "I just hope they can find a way through."
At its peak in 2003, Borders operated 1,249 Borders and Waldenbooks stores. Now it operates barely half that. Its annual revenue has fallen by about $A1.01 billion since 2006, the last year it reported a profit.
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