Books-A-Million announced late Monday that it had ended its bid to take over the inventory and leases for 30 Borders stores. According to BAM CEO Clyde Anderson the retailer could not come to terms with the various parties before the going out of business sales began at the locations where BAM had an interest. “We worked exhaustively in an effort to acquire these stores and reach agreements with all of the parties whose consent was necessary. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful,” Anderson said in a statement. BAM currently operates 231 stores in 23 states.
As the BAM bid failed, DJM Realty is ramping up its efforts to find new tenants for Borders’s locations that are closing. The company’s Web site has a list of 259 Borders locations that are to become available, generally ranging in size from 10,000 sq. ft. to 40,000. Stores are available in 44 states plus Puerto Rico. DJM is a division of Gordon Brothers, one of the companies in the group that is liquidating Borders’s inventory.
