Borders hires New York-based DJM Realty to manage liquidation

Borders Group has hired New York-based DJM Realty to manage the disposition of all its remaining stores in the United States, Business First reported. The bookstore chain, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February, intends to liquidate all stores after a bankruptcy auction scheduled for yesterday failed to attract sufficient bids.

It will ask a court tomorrow for permission to liquidate and may start closing stores as early as Friday. In total, Borders has 399 stores and 258 remaining leases available for assignment.

“This group of Borders’ stores has generated very strong interest from retailers,” Andy Graiser, co-president of DJM Realty, said in a statement. “With a lack of new real estate development and restrictive barriers of entry in several key markets, surplus real estate like Borders becomes a very good opportunity for a number of growing retailers looking to open for business during the next four to 12 months.”

Graiser pushed the unique quality of the Borders portfolio.

“It is not every day a portfolio becomes available which includes premier real estate sites in northern and southern California, the cities and surrounding suburbs of New York, Illinois, Texas, the northeast corridor and mid-Atlantic states,” he noted. [Business First]