Black-owned, independent booksellers react to Borders' closings

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Last month, on February 16, Bord­ers Group Inc. the second largest bookstore chain behind Barnes & Noble, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and will close 30 percent of its stores nationwide. The Borders announcement has brought forth mixed feelings from the local independent book selling community.

"The closing of our local Border's store really is bittersweet to me," says Afro-American Book Stop owner, Michele Lewis. "I feel for the employees who will lose their jobs in this tough economy."

The news is sad not only for employees but it also delivers a blow to African-American authors, according to Lewis.

"Most Borders across the country have pretty large African-American sections, so I'm concerned about the future growth of African American titles, authors, books, etc." she says. "Roughly 30 percent of the total amount of book sales for African-American authors come from Borders, so a number of our authors will no longer get publishing contracts. There are only about one-fourth of Afri­can-Ame­rican bookstores acr­oss the country that were in business 10 to 15 years ago that are still open today."

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