NEW YORK (MSNBC) -- Borders, unable to find a seller willing to get it out of bankruptcy, plans to close its remaining 399 stores and go out of business by the end of September, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website Monday.

Only two liquidation firms bid on the nation's second-largest bookseller.

Borders Group, which helped pioneer the big-box bookseller concept and once operated more than 1,000 stores before shrinking to its current 400, last week assigned the opening bid in its auction process set for Tuesday to two liquidation firms, Hilco Merchant Resources and Gordon Brothers Group. The move came after a bid fell through from private-equity firm Najafi Cos. that could have kept the chain a going concern.Creditors and landlords said liquidation was a better deal.

Atlanta --  The first annual Dinner & A Cause Card benefiting the “Children of Conservation” project is now available.  The card costs only $50 and offers holders a 20% discount at great Atlanta restaurants while contributing 100% of the profits to the education of children and protection of wildlife in third world countries.  Giving Never Tasted So Good!  

ATLANTA -- The unemployment rate in Metro Atlanta rose to 9.7 percent in May 2011, according to Georgia labor commissioner Mark Butler.

This is up one-tenth of a percentage point from a revised 9.6 percent in April.

Butler said the rate rose for two reasons. More than 21,000 new job seekers entered the labor force, but only about 15,000 of them found jobs. Also, Atlanta had a net loss of 900 jobs; an increase of 1,100 jobs in manufacturing and construction was offset by a loss of 2,000 service-related jobs.

The lowest area unemployment rate, at 7.2 percent, was recorded in Metro Athens, while the highest was in the Heart of Georgia-Altamaha region in the Dublin area, at 12 percent.

Douglas County's unemployment rate was 10.6 percent.

May marked the 46th consecutive month Georgia has exceeded the national unemployment rate, which is currently 9.1 percent, up from 9 percent in April.