[UPDATE] Wayne Towne Center Shutting Down

I really don’t usually write blog entries on these sorts of topics, but due to receiving some honest commentary on my blogging of the local Wayne Borders bookstore closing from friends and one knowledgeable individual, I decided to blog an update report on some inside information I overheard while standing in line of the Wayne Borders today.

According to a cashier in the Wayne Borders, Borders is not the only store closing. All of Wayne Towne Center, except for Fortunoff and JC Penny, is being shut down and demolished.

Now, I was never a big fan of the stores in this cluster, but somehow I don’t think that this includes TGI Fridays either. I believe this individual was referring to the building that houses Borders and everything within it. The knowledgeable commentator I spoke of, rinosatrot, offered some additional information regarding Borders as an “unprofitable business.”

Books aren’t going out of style; Borders is just an unprofitable business. They reported a huge 161.1 million dollar loss for those three months alone. (See the 2007 third quarter results.)

The last time I attempted to look up sales results of a company, I had a hard time finding it plastered on the internet somewhere. When offered so openly, there is no way for me to doubt this information, but it seems that the reason for this particular Borders to go down under is more than just profit loss. Also, this makes me wonder that if Borders has been financially suffering like this, what could they possibly be doing wrong that Barnes and Noble is doing right? One possible angle I see is if perhaps the bourgeois atmosphere of B&N maybe has more appeal than Borders’ casual, kick-your-shoes-off model.

I should also mention that while strolling Willowbrook Mall this same day, I heard one guy say “What’s with all the stores closing down?” At that particular moment, him and I were crossing paths in front of what once was Suncoast. The inside of the store was stripped bare and boxes were stacked atop one another.