Borders has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I didn’t realize they’d been working with lawyers to restructure their debt since 2009, but that makes sense–they were already having troubles when we went into the economic downturn. I’m not sure if this story about the lawyer they hired to handle their bankruptcy should be alarming or not. Is it cronyism allowing the new CEO to enrich his friends or is Borders engaging someone well-versed in the tactics of the creditor’s side?

In any event, Borders is likely to survive and I’d be surprised if my favorite store in downtown Seattle will be closed. They’re pretty busy there and have a great location.

And it’s too bad. As I mentioned before, Borders used to be a great store. Their revolutionary inventory system kept books on the shelves in ways other stores couldn’t, and you had to take a lit test to work there. Of course, other companies have leapfrogged their inventory software and I’m not sure their recent CEOs could have passed their literature tests; they sure didn’t seem to know how to sell books.

I’m glad they won’t be going away completely, but I can’t imagine how they’ll catch up.

Update: via Matt Staggs on Twitter, a document purporting to list the stores that Borders will close.