The 411 on Borders' Going Out of Business Sale

The “Going Out of Business” liquidation sale is underway at in Cuyahoga Falls —just as it is at all Borders stores across Northeast Ohio and the country.

The sale comes on the heels of Borders’ bankruptcy liquidation approval, where a U.S. bankruptcy court judge ordered the sale of over $700 million in books, music, DVDs, and other media items, along with store furniture, fixtures and other relevant retail equipment.

Items were marked down at all stores starting Friday, July 22.

Gradual increases in existing stock price markdowns are expected through mid-to-late September, after which the court-ordered sale will end and all stores will close their doors for good.

Those stores include locations in Cuyahoga Falls, Westlake, Medina, Mentor and Strongsville—the latter of which was one of the longest in operation for the retail chain.

Borders employees at the Cuyahoga Falls and Westlake stores spoke to Patch on the condition of anonymity, saying that for a period of a few weeks, new product shipments ordered before the liquidation approval will continue to arrive—all to an instant markdown.

Those Borders employees also did not permit customers to be interviewed on premises in either location. Reporters (including this one) were directed to Mary Davis, Borders’ public relations director.

“Right now, our merchandise is marked down anywhere from 10-40 percent and those discount percentages will gradually become larger as the time goes on,” said Davis in an interview with Patch Wednesday afternoon.

“What the cadence for those markdowns will be, we don’t really know. The liquidators are Hilco Merchant Resources [a.k.a. Trading, LLC]  and Gordon Brothers and they are dictating that process.”

Other organizations are involved in the liquidation. Details can be found here.

Davis indicated that she thought the groups’ approach to liquidation of assets “might be proprietary.”

Calls placed to both liquidation organizations mentioned by Davis were not immediately returned.

So what will happen with the stock?

"We expect that they will aggressively sell through as much of it as possible and warehouse whatever little product is left,” Davis said.

Aggressive sales aren’t quite where things stand at Northeast Ohio Borders outlets as of yet—at least in terms of pricing.

As of press time, the discounts at Borders stores are as follows: 10-20 percent off on books and CDs; 20 percent off on DVDs, and 40 percent off on Blu-Ray Disc movies.

These markdowns—comparable to standard sale prices available online at Amazon.com and other online retailers—are said to be static for at least these first two or three weeks of the liquidation sale.

Deeper discounts are expected to start by mid-August according to some Borders employees, so keep an eye on Borders locations for further price drops.