St. Peters Borders Location Slated to Close

Borders Group, owners of the Borders book and music stores, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Store Manager Brendan Cody heard the news Wednesday morning, learning that his  in the Mid Rivers Mall in St. Peters will be closing. 

Blaming a difficult economic climate, the bookstore announced that nearly 30 percent of its more than 600 stores nationwide as part of a restricting project.

From the official Borders restructuring site:

"In light of the ongoing impact of the difficult economy of the past few years, and the rapidly changing retailing environment for books and related products, it is essential that Borders restructure itself to reposition its business to be viable and successful over the long term.

To that end, we have determined the best route to undertake the necessary reorganization of our business is through the filing of a petition for reorganizational relief under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code."

Three area Borders stores are on the chopping block, one in Chesterfield one in Ballwin and one in St. Peters.

Cody, the store manager at the Mid Rivers Mall location, said he didn't have much to comment on about the decision because he doesn't know much. He was told this morning about the impending closure. He said he has been contacting his 31 employees about the closure.

Cody said he hasn't been told about when the store will close. Until an official word is given, Cody said the store would just operate as it normally would.

Cody said Borders has been in St. Peters 10 years, nine at the Mid Rivers Mall location.

"We had a good run," he said.

An employee at the store said there hasn't been a flood of calls coming into the store, but rather calls are going out. The employee said calls are being made to customers who have ordered books and not picked them up.

Bill Reece of St. Peters was shopping in the store shortly before noon, unaware of the impeding closure. 

"That's kind of bad," Reece said. "I always figured this one would remain open. ... That's horrible."

Reece said he's a long-time customer of Borders and prefers the store to rival .

"[Borders] has better selection and better pricing," he said. 

With his choice of store soon to close, Reece wasn't sure where he'd go to get his fill of books.

"I don't know," he said. "I'll probably just shop online."

For more information about the impending closure, Cody said to check out the Borders official site.

Donald Cutler, spokesman for Borders said stores will begin the process of shutting down over the next several weeks. He said Borders isn't commenting on what will happen with the employees in terms of benefits. 

Rachel Heaton contributed to this story.