Borders: Oops... We're Actually Still in Business!

By Peter Jamison

Frequent shoppers at Borders may have found themselves crestfallen over the weekend upon discovering that their favorite stripmall purveyor of books, music and movies was seemingly the latest victim of the U.S. financial crisis. "Borders Closing," announced an e-mail that went out to selected Borders customers, at least some of them in San Francisco. The message went on to announce a clearance sale -- all inventory 40 percent off.

Any despondency among the Borders faithful was wiped away seven hours later. It was then that a second e-mail was sent out -- "Correction To Our Earlier Email," the new message announced -- clarifying that it was only a Borders store on Natomas Boulevard in Sacramento that was closing. (Let us breathe a sigh of relief: Christmas Eve one-stop-shopping is preserved for another season.)

Mary Davis, a Borders spokesperson, told SF Weekly that the mistake was made by the company Borders hires to broadcast these notices. Davis refused to disclose who that was, or whether the vendor had been canned as a result of the mix-up. She also declined to say how many Borders customers received the e-mail in error. "Suffice it to say that people outside of the Sacramento area did get the e-mail, and we worked quickly to rectify it," she said.

The fear that customers would mistakenly think the Borders chain was closing, Davis said, "certainly was an underlying concern" behind the correction. She also pointed out a parallel worry: The company didn't want people showing up at their neighborhood Borders and asking for that 40 percent discount.

Photo courtesy of Borders Media Relations.