• by Nina Lentini  @Nina_Lentini, December 31, 2007

Borders will offer free events in its stores throughout January that will include wellness fairs, yoga classes, singles nights, fitness and recreation clinics and seminars on diet options.

"Since January and the New Year is a time when people are focused on making changes in their lifestyle, finances, professional life or love life, we thought it's a great time to help our customers by offering the resources and tools to help them reach their goals," says spokesperson Kolleen O'Meara. "We want our customers to be successful. As customers come into our stores, we want to make it easy for them to find the right wellness resource they are seeking."

Borders will marketing the events on a local, grassroots level and on a national level through print ads, online and through its weekly e-newsletter sent to 22 million subscribers who are part of the Borders Rewards loyalty program.

In a press release distributed on Friday, Borders noted that "during the January events, it is a perfect time for customers to use their holiday gift cards to purchase books, DVDs and periodicals that will help them succeed in reaching their goals and resolutions for the New Year."

"We tried to put ourselves in our customers' shoes and pull together the various titles our customers may be looking for when they come into our stores in January," says O'Meara.

Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., Borders is a $4.1 billion global retailer of books, music, movies, gifts and stationery items. It operates more than 1,100 stores worldwide under the Borders and Waldenbooks brand names.