Our History

Borders began in 1972, when Tom and Louis Borders opened a bookshop in the heart of Ann Arbor, an academic community in Michigan, USA. The first store was just 800 sq ft and sold only used books. In 1973, Borders decided to sell new books only; by 1974, the business was in its fourth location, a 10,000 sq ft store. As it grew, Borders became known as one of the world's finest bookshops - a place where customers could browse alone for hours, or rely on the friendly and well-informed staff to find exactly what they were looking for.

Borders expansion in New Zealand commenced in 1999 with a store in Queen Street, Auckland. In 2005, Borders opened a store in Christchurch, followed by stores in Wellington and Sylvia Park and Albany.

REDgroup Retail acquired Borders Australia, New Zealand and Singapore in June 2008. When REDgroup Retail (which also owned Whitcoulls in NZ and Angus & Robertson in Australia) went into administration in early 2011, the bricks and mortar Borders stores in New Zealand became part of the Whitcoulls network under new ownership and the online component of the business was sold to Bookworld (a division of the Pearson Australia Group) that also operates borders.com.au and angusrobertson.com.au.