Fairfield Borders is Closing After All

Borders Books, which helped to anchor the downtown business district for about 14 years, is closing after all.

The Borders at 1499 Post Road was among 28 stores nationwide added to a list of stores to be closed under a Chapter 11 reorganization process. It's expected to close by late May, according to the list.

Peter Penczer, chairman of the town's Economic Development Commission, said the closing of Borders would be a loss for the town because the mega-bookstore was one of the businesses that brought people downtown.

Penczer said he imagined that the space occupied by Borders would have to be divided up. "I think it's a little large, and I think it's destined to be divided up," he said. "I think what they're going to have to end up doing is splitting it up into more than one unit. Maybe I'm wrong."

Al Kleban, who owns the two-story commercial building by Post and Reef roads that also houses national retailers Victoria's Secret, Chico's, Banana Republic and Ann Taylor Loft, wasn't immediately available Thursday afternoon to comment on whether he had any potential tenants for the space.

Penczer said Kleban, who also owns the Brick Walk Shopping Center among other commercial properties in Fairfield, always finds tenants. "I would say they have a pretty good handle on the retail market. They're probably already working on what they have to do," Penczer said. "If anybody can do it, they can, and they'll do it well."

The two-story building by the corner of Post and Reef roads was built after The Fairfield Store, a landmark, family-owned department store downtown, closed in 1996 after 75 years. The Fairfield Store's building was demolished and the two-story building was built in its place. Kleban later bought the property from Louis L. Ceruzzi Jr., who had built it.