Say Goodbye to Borders

Looking to buy a book at Borders?

Better make a beeline.

Corporate officials with the national bookseller have announced that, barring any 11th-hour bailouts, they'll close the chain's remaining 400 locations.

“Following the best efforts of all parties, we are saddened by this development,” Borders Group President Mike Edwards said in a news release. “We were all working hard towards a different outcome, but the headwinds we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly changing book industry, eReader revolution, and turbulent economy, have brought us to where we are now."

The Oak Park store, an anchor of the prominent Lake and Harlem intersection for years, initially survived a round of store closings back in February, when the company filed for bankruptcy.

At the time, — Village Manager Tom Barwin called it a "beacon and an attraction."

Now, it's all about luring a new retailer to the space at 1144 Lake St.

Pat Zubak, director of the Downtown Oak Park business group, said big chains would likely find the space, located near a parking garage and other major chains like , and , an attractive option.

But finding a company to fill both of the building's floors will be more difficult.

"To find a retailer that will operate on two levels is a challenge. The location is not," she said. "It's a highly visible corner. It's a prestigious, beautiful building."

The once-dominant bookstore has run into major trouble from the "declining interest in bricks-and-mortar booksellers, a broad cultural trend for which it offered no answers," according to a Feb. 12 Wall Street Journal story:

"The bookseller suffered a series of management gaffes, piled up unsustainable debts and failed to cultivate a meaningful presence on the Internet or in increasingly popular digital e-readers."