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Borders Closing 6 Massachusetts Stores

BOSTON (CBS/AP) - Borders is closing 200 of its book stores across the country, including six in Massachusetts.

Branches in Boston, Burlington, Holyoke, Hyannis, Peabody and Wareham will be shut down as part of the company's bankruptcy filing.

Borders, which has been in business for 40 years, plans to close about 200 of its 642 stores over the next few weeks.

All of the stores closed will be superstores, Borders spokeswoman Mary Davis said.

The company also operates smaller Waldenbooks and Borders Express stores.

Clearance sales could begin as early as this weekend, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York Wednesday.

Borders said it is losing about $2 million a day at the stores it plans to close.

It has been a long fall for the Ann Arbor, Mich., company, which 15 years ago appeared to be the future of bookselling.

Big-box bookstores have struggled as competition has become increasingly tough as books become available in more locations, from Costco to Walmart, online sales grow and electronic books gain in popularity.

Borders also suffered from a series of errors: failing to catch onto the growing importance of the Web and electronic books, not reacting quickly enough to declining music and DVD sales, and hiring four CEOs in 5 years without book-selling experience.

(TM and © Copyright 2010 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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