Waldenbooks, a division of Borders, is closing 200 stores nationwide and eliminating 1,500 jobs. The stores have been closing down, 66 a year on average, since 2001. Following this latest round of closures in January 2010, there will be 130 stores remaining. The typical Borders store size is 25,000 square feet while Waldenbooks runs closer to 3,900 square feet. Based on this average size, there will be 776,000 square feet of vacant mall space (where the stores tend to be) added to the market in the first quarter of 2010.
Here are the number of stores closing by state (two are in Oregon and two are in Washington):
1 – Alaska
1 – Alabama
2 – Arkansas
2 – Arizona
12 – California
1 – Connecticut
13 – Florida
6 – Georgia
3 – Iowa
9 – Illinois
5 – Indiana
1 – Kansas
2 – Kentucky
2 – Louisiana
5 – Massachussetts
4 – Maryland
8 – Michigan
1 – Minnesota
2 – Missouri
2 – Mississippi
2 – Montana
8 – North Carolina
1 – North Dakota
4 – Nebraska
3 – New Hampshire
8 - New Jersey
1 – New Mexico
2 – Nevada
10 – New York
16 – Ohio
4 – Oklahoma
2 – Oregon (Albany and Medford)
24 – Pennslyvania
1 – Rhode Island
4 – South Carolina
1 – South Dakota
2 – Tennessee
14 – Texas
1 – Utah
6 – Virginia
2 – Vermont
2 – Washington (Spokan and Bellingham)
3 – Wisconsin
2 – West Virginia
