Waldenbooks in mall to close

New Bern’s Waldenbooks is on the list of about 200 mall-based stores that parent company Borders Group intends to close by January.

A corporate spokeswoman for Borders Group said Friday that the decision to close the store is part of the book retailer’s strategy to “right-size” its Waldenbooks chain so it is more profitable in fiscal year 2010.

The spokeswoman would not disclose the factors the company considered when deciding which stores would close. But a corporate news release says that Borders Group has annually closed “underperforming” stores in keeping with a long-term turnaround strategy.

“This is part of an ongoing initiative that started in 2001,” said Mary Davis, a spokeswoman in Borders Group’s Ann Arbor, Mich., office. “It’s absolutely nothing new.”

The company closed 112 stores during the 2008 fiscal year and closed an average of 66 stores annually during the budget years from 2001 through 2007. Altogether, 130 Waldenbooks will stay open.

The New Bern store’s biggest crowd draw is author Nicholas Sparks, who lives in Trent Woods and regularly kicks off his book-signing tours at the mall.

Store manager Ann Predaris said she was not allowed to talk about the closure, and referred all questions to the corporate headquarters.

Eight North Carolina stores will be shut down during this round of Waldenbooks closures, including shops in Chapel Hill and Asheville. All those N.C. stores will close by the end of January, with actual closure dates varying by location, Davis said. She said all the stores would stay open for the coming holiday season.

All told, the Waldenbooks closures will affect 1,500 employees nationwide, but Davis would not disclose the number of employees affected at the New Bern store. She said that Borders Group would make “every effort” to find other jobs within the company for employees who qualify. She said the company would offer severance packages for displaced workers.

Nikie Mayo can be reached at 252-635-5665 or nmayo@freedomenc.com.