Waldenbooks at Regency Mall closing

Another long-time retail stalwart at Regency Mall is closing.

Waldenbooks sent an email notice to customers Saturday night saying the store will close on Jan. 24. The store is offering 40% off the list price of everything in the store (except magazines and electronics).

Waldenbooks, which is owned by Borders Group Inc., closed about half its stores in 2007. There are approximately 420 Waldenbooks stores in the U.S.; reports say all the "under-performing" ones will close this month.

The most recent closure at Regency was Steve and Barry's, which ended its final clearance sale a week ago. Prior to that, Regency lost Linens and Things to a corporate bankruptcy this summer. Business analysts have been predicting a wave of retail store closures in 2009 -- thousands of stores are believed in jeopardy of closing, perhaps as many as 40,000 across the U.S.