Despite Borders' Bankruptcy, Birmingham Store Is Keeping Its Doors Open

The in Birmingham isn’t going anywhere, for now at least.

Borders Group Inc., the Ann Arbor-based book retailer, declared bankruptcy this morning and announced a list of closures throughout the country as part of its reorganizing efforts. The company is closing four of its 32 stores in Michigan, including stores in , and . The Arborland store in Ann Arbor is also slated to close, though the Ann Arbor flagship will remain open.

In total, Borders will be closing 200 of its 642 stores throughout the country during the next few weeks.

Borders employees at the Birmingham location were unable to comment Wednesday though Jeremy Fielding, Borders public relations representative, said nothing will change at the stores that remain open.

"We're always looking for the most efficient ways to do business," Fielding said. "For those stores (which will stay open), it continues to be business as usual."

The Birmingham store was bustling Wednesday afternoon. Vincent Samarin of Bloomfield Hills was checking out some business books Wednesday afternoon, getting ready for tax season. He said he often stops in to Borders to shop and hang out, and said he was relieved the Birmingham store hadn't been slated for closure.

"It would be sad to see this place go," he said.

If the Birmingham store closed, the city would be without a major bookstore, the only other place in town to buy books being the on Maple. Without Borders, area book buyers don't have many options, Samarin said.

"If there were more family-owned, independent bookstores around here, that would be one thing," he said. "But there's nowhere else around."

Borders Group said 75 more stores might be on the chopping block in the upcoming months, although Fielding said the company hasn't set a timeline for annoucing more closures.

Metro Detroit Borders not on the closure list include locations in Rochester Hills and Beverly Hills.

Borders isn’t a member of the , nor is it a member of the .

For those communities with closing stores, Borders assured customers on its website that Borders.com will be operating as usual, the Borders Rewards program will remain in effect and the company will continue to honor gift cards.

For more information on the Michigan Borders closings, visit our stories on , and .