The giant US book shop chain Borders is planning to open 10 new stores in the Republic and Northern Ireland as part of a major expansion.
The first two stores will be at the Dundrum Town Centre and the Blanchardstown shopping centre in west Dublin. The company intends to put new stores in shopping centres and retail parks, although the it has not ruled out moving onto the high street.
The arrival of such a large book retailer could exert pressure on existing providers in the Irish market. Eason has been expanding aggressively in recent years, buying Reads and Fred Hanna in Dublin and opening new outlets in other cities.
Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Borders is a Fortune 500 company with annual sales of $3.9 billion (€3.2 billion). The company, which is quoted on the New York Stock Exchange, ownsover 470 Borders stores in the US and 54 Borders stores outside the US, mainly in the UK and the Pacific rim. The chain is the second-largest in the United States after Barnes and Noble.
The company also owns approximately 650 Waldenbooks stores in malls across America, as well as London-based Paperchase Products Limited, a retailer of stationery, cards and gifts.
The expansion into Ireland is being driven by Borders executives operating in the UK. The Irish stores are likely to contain Paperchase and Starbucks outlets. The first two stores will be about 23,000 square feet each and will sell DVDs as well as books.
The Borders property director in the UK, Geoff Robotham, told trade publication Retail Week: "We see about 10 Borders stores in Ireland - both north and south - and will be locating suitable units and centres over the next couple of years." He said retail parks allowed to company to opt for the larger format store it tends to favour.
More than 34,000 employees worldwide work for the company. It has been expanding its product line significantly in recent years to include a whole range of entertainment goods.
The original Borders bookstore was founded in 1971 by brothers Tom and Louis Borders. The brothers tailored their inventory to each community they located in and the chain rapidly expanded. Retailer K-Mart acquired Borders and its rival Waldenbooks in 1994, but a stock buyback enabled Borders and Waldenbooks to form its own corporation, the Borders Group.
