By Joe Anuta
One of the keystone businesses at The Shops at Atlas Park has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Borders, which occupies a prominent space at the shops, at 80-00 Cooper Ave., announced Monday it will begin the process of liquidation.
“Following the best efforts of all parties, we are saddened by this development,” Mike Edwards, the Borders Group president, said in a statement. “We were all working hard toward a different outcome, but the headwinds we have been facing for quite some time, including the rapidly changing book industry, e-reader revolution and turbulent economy, have brought us to where we are now.”
The collapse of the book-selling giant will eliminate roughly 11,000 jobs at roughly 400 stores and will be the final chapter for the store in Queens, even though the Atlas Park site avoided a similar fate earlier this year.
In February, Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed 200 stores around the country, but The Shops at Atlas Park was spared.
The store is situated at the corner of 80th Street and Cooper Avenue and acts as a main draw for the rest of the mall, according to Gary Giordano, district manager for Community Board 5.
“I am fearful that now there is another vacancy there,” he said. “It’s a beautiful shopping place, but I hope this is part of the so-called ‘purging process.’”
According to Macerich, the real estate giant that took over the mall in February and specializes in revitalizing ailing commercial spaces, the closure of one store does not doom the rest of the shops.
“Our company is well-prepared and has been monitoring this situation at Atlas as we carefully consider and continue research for the future of the center. We take a long-term view and believe that situations like this pave the way for new retail innovations and successes at Atlas,” said R.J. Ryan, senior property manager of the shops. “We view this as an opportunity to bring in a concept that will be favored by the community and compliment the existing center.”
Macerich acquired the Glendale mall at a foreclosure auction.
The mall’s previous owner, Damon Hemmerdinger, opened the mall in 2006 with a vision of selling high-end goods to the neighborhood.
But many shoppers and employees of businesses in the Shops said the vision did not match the reality of the working-class communities that surround the shops, and the mall went bankrupt.
In February 2009, operations were turned over to a court-appointed receiver, and in January Macerich purchased the property for $54 million.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
