Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wed., Feb. 16. While in this stage of bankruptcy, Borders will close 200 of its 642 stores, and may choose to close 75 more. After major cutbacks in 2005, that’s 887 stores closed in a period of five years.

Borders has been pummeled by Barnes & Noble’s 717 stores, Amazon.com’s Internet empire, and the increasing sales of e-readers. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy will allow Borders to reorganize their finances in the hopes that they can hold on to their remaining stores.

Unfortunately, the Gig Harbor, Linwood, Federal Way and Tacoma locations are not among those remaining stores. Book aficionados rejoice and despair as they take advantage of the 20-40 percent off deals that the store is offering in its final days. Senior Lauren Gardner said, "I am in fact chaining myself to the store. I will not allow this to happen because it means the end is coming."

If Borders cannot get their finances in order, Gardner’s fears are not unfounded. Senior Sarah Hillman is one of the many people who caused Borders to turn their focus from novel sales. Hillman said, "I love my Kindle...but I also love just spending hours walking around Borders and looking at books." Look, but don’t buy. That’s the mentality of the many shoppers that visit Borders every day.

Alumnus Matthew Boyle B’10 said, "The book was a perfect invention that never needed to be improved until we got super lazy." But are we being lazy, or are we simply accepting that the change from books to e-readers and from brick and mortar stores to Internet stores is just another step forward, like the change from encyclopedias to Google?

Whatever the case may be, Borders, like many other large corporations, is struggling to hold itself up in these economic times. Chief Financial Officer of Borders Scott Henry said that the company aims to make its way out of the bankruptcy by enhancing its customer rewards program, strengthening its e-book business and expanding more into non-book products such as their café, stationary and children’s toys.

It is too early to see how Borders will come out of the Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, but for now, the Borders corporation overhaul will bring a little hope to book aficionados everywhere.