Borders Group CEO Ron Marshall has left the company for another opportunity. On Jan. 18, Marshall had said the company was “disappointed” in holiday sales.
The Detroit Free Press reports that Marshall “has accepted a position with another retailer” and will serve as CEO of this new company. The company’s executive VP, Michael J. Edwards, will serve as the interim CEO.
Last week the company announced that total consolidated holiday sales were $846.8 million, declining 13.7 percent from last year’s sales. In a statement, Marshall addressed these declines: “We are disappointed with holiday results and must intensify our focus on creating and delivering a shopping experience that drives profitable sales … Given the sales challenge, we have continued to manage cash flow and have taken several important steps in line with our strategic priorities, including moving away from underperforming, low margin categories such as music and video in favor of better performing categories such as children’s. The decision to exit multimedia is right long-term, but impacted comp store sales by 3.7 percent. In addition, as previously announced, we are right-sizing the mall business with the closure of 182 Waldenbooks Specialty Retail stores.”