UPPER WEST SIDE — For the second time in less than a year, the Upper West Side is losing a major bookstore.
Borders announced that it's closing all 399 of its stores nationwide, including locations at the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle and at Penn Plaza at West 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue.
Borders' Time Warner Center store is just a few blocks from the former Barnes & Noble store at West 66th Street and Broadway, which closed in January. The largest bookstore left on the Upper West Side is the Barnes & Noble on West 82nd and Broadway.
Borders declared bankruptcy in February, and closed stores on Second Avenue and 32nd Street, Broadway and Wall Street, and Park Avenue and 57th Street earlier this year.
The company announced Monday that it hasn't been able to find a buyer to take over the troubled bookseller.
"We were all working hard towards a different outcome, but the headwinds we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly changing book industry, eReader revolution, and turbulent economy, have brought us to where we are now," said Borders Group President Mike Edwards in a release.
Borders will liquidate its assets starting as soon as this Friday, according to a company press release. The liquidation process will likely continue through September, the release stated.
An employee at the Time Warner Center store said customers will start seeing discounts on merchandise this Friday. The store will remain in business until the "warehouse is empty," the employee said.
The manager of the Penn Plaza store told DNAinfo he had "no idea" when the store would close. Another employee said workers were in the dark about the impending closure. "We haven't received any official information about anything, so we don't have any answers," he said.
Borders employs 10,700 people. "There's no more Borders, so people will have to look elsewhere for work," said an employee at the Time Warner Center store.
Representatives for the Time Warner Center did not return calls for comment about which retailer will replace the bookseller. Fashion discounter Century 21 is replacing the Lincoln Square Barnes & Noble.
Neighborhood blog West Side Rag noted that while Upper West Siders sometimes complain about the influx of chain stores in their neighborhood, larger bookstores offered readers a chance to browse among stacks and hosted free community events.
"If only more people actually bought the products," wrote West Side Rag.
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer Jill Colvin contributed reporting to this story.
