UPDATE: St. Charles Borders Store Closing a "Surprise" Despite Awareness of Mounting Troubles for the Company

UPDATE: While St. Charles city officials were aware of pending bankruptcy proceedings for bookstore giant Borders, some were told as recently as last week that there was no indication of the possible closing of the West Main Street location.

Economic Development Director Chris Aiston said store management told them during an inspection last week that they knew nothing about the location closing in the near future.

"She (the store manager) said she did not have any indication of that," Aiston told the St. Charles Patch on Wednesday. He called the closing a "surprise" despite knowing about the long-perceived troubles at the corporate level.

The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets are reporting that the St. Charles Borders is among 200 stores closing nationwide after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Thirty percent of company 642 stores throughout the country are expected to shut their doors, according to reports.

One manager at the St. Charles location declined to comment Wednesday. The store manager is reportedly unavailable until Friday. Calls to Borders corporate media relations went unanswered.

The borders on Randall Road in Geneva is not among those slated for closing, according to report. About 15 locations in the Chicago area will close.

This news comes more than a month after a different major retail outlet, , announced it will close its location inside the Charlestowne Mall.

Editor's Note: Two paragraphs in this story that included information from St. Charles officials were changed to reflect that while the closing came as a surprise to them, they were aware of the pending bankruptcy.