Revenue from Borders’s going-out-of business sales slowed to a trickle in September, with the company reporting sales of just $3.3 million in the August 28-September 24 period. The last of Borders stores closed during the period. The retailer did report other revenue of $156 million in the period which it said included “the write-on of all unredeemed gift cards issued prior to February 16, 2011.”
Separately, Barnes & Noble extended the time for Borders customers to opt out of allowing B&N to get access to their Borders customer data. Whether it was due to an interim report filed by the consumer ombudsman about the text of the opt-out letter that Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch sent to former Borders customers or to problems with Borders’s mailing lists that prevented B&N from reaching all customers at the end of September, the retailer is giving Borders customers another two and a half weeks to decide if they want their data transferred. In the wake of Tuesday’s Borders bankruptcy hearing, former customers will now have until November 2 to visit www.bn.com/borders and opt out.
At the same time, B&N is working hard to convince Borders customers to, in Lynch’s words, “give us a chance to be your bookstore.” As of October 14, customers who visit the Borders.com Web site are being redirected to barnesandnoble.com. There they are greeted with an offer for two months free membership and free express shipping, as well as a coupon for a 10% discount off one item at the register or online. B&N acquired the Borders IP assets at the end of September.
This week Judge Martin Glenn of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York approved another extension, this one for the Borders’s bankruptcy plan. It now has up to and including January 12 to file an exclusive Chapter 11 plan and can solicit acceptance of the plan from December 13 through March 12
