Borders, the 40-year-old retail chain that helped define the age of the book superstore, filed for bankruptcy today. The company will close some 200 of its 650 stores.
The troubles of Borders are rooted in a series of strategic missteps, executive turnover and a failure to understand the digital revolution — problems in many ways of Borders’ own making. But as those in the volatile industry digested the news that most saw coming, they were acutely aware of the bigger picture: that in a fast-evolving bookselling environment there is slim margin for error.