The book chains Borders, Angus & Robertson and the Whitcoulls chain in New Zealand have been placed into voluntary administration by its private equity owners only a day after the Borders company in the US also collapsed.
The local companies have a combined staff of about 2500.
The failure of Borders in Australia is not linked to the woes facing its namesake in America - they are owned by different corporations - but both have suffered from the rise of internet book sales and constrained consumer spending.
Dark day ... Borders and the iconic Angus & Robertson have suffered from the rise of internet book sales.
REDgroup, a business that controls a portfolio of retail operations in Australia and New Zealand, is controlled by private equity firm PEP and has had a troubled few years during which it has breached a number of lending covenants with its banks.
BusinessDay has learnt that REDgroup was forced to call in administrators to the businesses this afternoon following a board meeting. Although its flagship Borders franchise is expected to remain open in the short term, its future in Australia and the jobs of its staff are now in doubt.
The outlook is similarly grim for Angus & Robertson, which has a corporate history in Australia that dates back to 1886 when David Angus and George Robertson opened a bookshop in Sydney.
New Zealand-based Whitcoulls is of even older vintage. Originally named Whitcombe & Tombs after its founders joined their businesses in 1882, according to the company's website.
More at Sydney Morning Herald.
And in The Age.
NZ Herald - Whitcoulls stores face closure
And at stuff.co.nz. - Borders, Whitcoulls under administration
Thanks for this news, you were the first media in NZ as far as I know to break the story. Your byline - the first word on the New Zealand book scene - is endorsed again.Those of us in the book world here have come to rely on you.
ReplyDeleteVery sad times for the book trade as a whole.
ReplyDeleteGoodness I didn't think it was that bad here! Where will we buy our e-books now?
ReplyDeleteBookbrainz
we've had plenty to say on this subject on our blog - any regular reader of that shouldn't be surprised.
ReplyDeleteThere’s only one thing that’s going to get those bookshops and their staff through this and that’s $$$ in the tills. Let’s get shopping people!
ReplyDeleteKC