Borders Express in Swampscott to close this summer

SWAMPSCOTT – Borders Express bookstore will be closing its local branch before Sept. 15, a company spokesperson confirmed Monday.”The last day we can be in the store is mid-September, however, the plan is to begin the closing sale the second or third week in July,” said Borders Group Corporate Affairs spokesperson Mary Davis. “Depending on how quickly the store sell through product, it could close well before that September 14 date.”The bookstore chain initially filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy law on Feb. 16 and announced that it was closing 200 stores this July, Davis said. An additional 26 stores were added to the list in March, and a press release on the company’s website identifies eight of those 226 stores as located in Massachusetts. Thursday, the company filed a motion regarding 51 stores that were seeking landlord approval for extensions on their lease, including the Borders Express at Vinnin Square in the Swampscott Mall, Davis said. Davis said the extension would allow give chain additional time to evaluate whether to keep a store open and often involved renegotiating lease arrangements. Davis said that the Swampscott store’s lease was not renegotiated.Davis said that the Swampscott location currently has 13 employees, and that there are 14 remaining Borders locations – including Borders Express, superstores and airport locations – in Massachusetts. Ten of the bookstore chain’s locations have closed.As for future closings, Davis said that the company is continually evaluating its stores.”We’re always looking at portfolio to make sure that each building is meeting our objectives,” she said. “Yes, there will be more closings, but not as on a mass scale but as leases expire.”A representative of Centercorp Retail Properties which owns the Swampscott Mall said they could not comment on future plans for the retail space.