Australian bookseller Angus & Robertson to close 37 stores

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that altogether, 38 stores will close across the country, with the loss of 300 jobs.

The administrators of collapsing book chains Borders and Angus & Robertson have announced that 37 Angus & Robertson stores will be closed over the next three weeks, along with the Borders store in Rouse Hill, New South Wales.  Fifteen will shut their doors in the state of Victoria, eleven in New South Wales, seven in Queensland, two in Western Australia, two in the ACT, and one in South Australia.

Administrator Steve Sherman said that New Zealand operations, Borders online, and Angus & Robertson online will not be affected.  (Yet?)

According to him, the stores that are closing were "the least viable of the 260 REDgroup retail outlets," and needed to be closed to save the rest.  "As administrators," he said, "we need to take these difficult decisions in order to give people at the remaining stores their best chance at a long-term future."

REDgroup retail, which owns Borders and Angus & Robertson, among other stores, failed in February 2011 with debts of $118 million (AUD).