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I heard Borders is filing for bankruptcy- use your gift cards NOW!


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I hear Borders Books is going under, and filing for bankruptcy in a manner similar to the way Circuit City went down. With CC, all store credit and gift cards were voided. Just a suggestion, you might want to use up any gift cards immediately. I spent mine tonight, as everything could change as of tomorrow.

I would be really mad if my cards were null and void overnight, with no warning!

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Groupon is awesome about refunding your money in the event that a store goes under. I contacted them last month about a business that went under before I could use the gift card I'd bought a couple of months ago. They refunded my money within a day.

 

Thanks for the heads-up, but hopefully it won't be the end of the world for the Groupon gift cards if they do...

 

EDIT: I just realized the gift cards were from B&N, not Borders. Never mind! LOL!

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I'm sad this is happening but my Borders is largely a gift shop now. They sell toys, games, doo dads, junk. I never buy from them anymore.

 

 

I love Borders, but I was sad to see all the toys, etc in our local store now. When I take my kids to the children's section of a big bookstore, I want them to beg me for books, not legos. Plush characters from children's literature, yes. Racing car sets, no thanks!

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I wonder if that includes their Australian stores. So not happy with them at the moment, they are campaigning the govt to put taxes on overseas online purchasing because they don't like the fact that we buy from the US and UK to avoid the astronomical charges of books here in Australia. Well books, DVDs, games, clothes, shoes, etc etc etc. If they went under right now here in Aussie, I'd probably dance a jig outside their store while singing "serves you right"

Perhaps they were better in the US.

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I read somewhere last night, one of first articles in a google search, that they are attempting to restructure, got a huge loan, and will close 150 stores. I don't know how many they have now, hopefully they'll be able to keep open some stores where they are the only bookstore presence.

 

I order a lot online, but sometimes nothing beats going to sit in a real bookstore.

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I read somewhere last night, one of first articles in a google search, that they are attempting to restructure, got a huge loan, and will close 150 stores. I don't know how many they have now, hopefully they'll be able to keep open some stores where they are the only bookstore presence.

 

I order a lot online, but sometimes nothing beats going to sit in a real bookstore.

 

:iagree:

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That's awful! I'm going to have to drag the baby out so I can spend my gift card.

 

It was a big deal to me when Borders came "to town" (30 minutes away). I've always managed to find great books to supplement our studies in the bargain section, with much better prices and larger selection than they have online.

If they close, I'll have to drive up to "the city" (45 minutes away in a direction I never go for anything else) for B&N. :glare:

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I think, though, that the restructuring depends on the leniency of the publishers and other lenders. From what I heard, part of the deal would include nixing all the gift cards/store credit. I don't KNOW this to be true, but enough of a chance that I just spent mine all last night. I had over $100 so didn't want to risk it. Better safe than sorry was my thinking. I could return a hastily purchased book for exchange if they stick around, but to be stuck with a worthless piece of plastic would really irk me!

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  • 2 weeks later...
I think, though, that the restructuring depends on the leniency of the publishers and other lenders. From what I heard, part of the deal would include nixing all the gift cards/store credit. I don't KNOW this to be true, but enough of a chance that I just spent mine all last night. I had over $100 so didn't want to risk it. Better safe than sorry was my thinking. I could return a hastily purchased book for exchange if they stick around, but to be stuck with a worthless piece of plastic would really irk me!

 

I seem to recall from an article a couple years ago, when some other companies were going under that gift cards are put into the last category of company debts. So if there is only a little money to go around, other debts are paid off first. There is often no money left to honor the obligation that is represented by gift cards.

 

(So it isn't just that they are saying, too bad for gift cards, but that they are not paying off an entire category of debts. I think the term was that these were unsecured debts (ie, no collateral like a building) but that might not be the correct term.)

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