Borders to close 4 stores in Oklahoma

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Borders Group Inc., the second-largest U.S. bookstore chain will shutter more of its smaller Waldenbooks stores in January as it focuses on its more profitable superstores.

The company Thursday said it is closing 200 Waldenbooks and Borders Express stores and cutting 1,500 jobs in January to make the chain smaller and more profitable.

Four of eight remaining Waldenbooks in Oklahoma are expected to close: one each at Oklahoma City’s Crossroads Mall and Quail Springs Mall, Tulsa Promenade and Arrowhead Mall in Muskogee.

Jim Swenson, manager of Crossroads Mall, said he was disappointed to learn of the store’s departure.

"We hate to lose them. We need a bookstore like Waldenbooks in south Oklahoma City,” he said.

Waldenbooks stores at Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City, Washington Park Mall in Bartlesville, Central Mall in Lawton and Shawnee Mall are expected to remain open.

Borders, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., said closings would leave about 130 stores in its Waldenbooks Specialty Retail unit.

Michael Norris, senior trade analyst at Simba Information, said the move is a way to focus on superstores, which make more money and cost less per square foot to operate than smaller stores.

"In a way they kind of have to do this, because Barnes & Noble is ahead of them in phasing out small-format stores,” he said.