Waldenbooks
Template:Short description {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for clobbered parameters|check|nested=1|template=Infobox company|cat=Template:Main other|name; company_name|logo; company_logo|logo_alt; alt|trade_name; trading_name|former_names; former_name|type; company_type|predecessors; predecessor|successors; successor|foundation; founded|founders; founder|defunct; dissolved|hq_location; location|hq_location_city; location_city|hq_location_country; location_country|num_locations; locations|areas_served; area_served|net_income; profit|net_income_year; profit_year|owners; owner |homepage; website }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox company with unknown parameter "_VALUE_" | ignoreblank=y | alt | area_served | areas_served | assets | assets_year | aum | brands | company_logo | company_name | company_type | defunct | dissolved | divisions | embed | equity | equity_year | fate | footnotes | headquarters | former_name | former_names | foundation | founded | founder | founders | genre | homepage | hq_location | hq_location_city | hq_location_country | incorporated | image | image_alt | image_caption | image_size | image_upright | income_year | industry | ISIN | key_people | location | location_city | location_country | locations | logo | logo_alt | logo_caption | logo_class | logo_size | logo_upright | members | members_year | module | name | native_name | native_name_lang | net_income | net_income_year | num_employees | num_employees_year | num_locations | num_locations_year | operating_income | owner | owners | parent | predecessor | predecessors | production | production_year | products | profit | profit_year | rating | ratio | revenue | revenue_year | romanized_name | services | subsid | subsidiaries | successor | successors | traded_as | trade_name | trading_name | type | website| qid | fetchwikidata | suppressfields | noicon | nocat | demo | categories }} Walden Book Company, Inc., doing business as Waldenbooks, was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain and a subsidiary of Borders. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware, as well as a children's educational toy chain under Walden Kids. In 2011, the chain was liquidated in bankruptcy.
History
On March 4, 1933, Lawrence Hoyt (1902–1982),<ref>Template:Cite news Alternate Link via EBSCO. Alternate Link via TIME.</ref><ref name=nyt-1982dec20>Template:Cite news</ref> a former sales manager for Simon & Schuster,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Melvin T. Kafka (1905–1992)<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> opened a rental library within leased space inside a Bridgeport, Connecticut, department store under the name Walden Book Company (named for Henry David Thoreau's Walden, a meditation on simple living in natural surroundings).<ref name=wwd-1958may16>Template:Cite news</ref> The pair believed that their business would help people cope with the effects of the Great Depression. Books were lent out for three cents per day to save customers the cost of purchasing the books while providing affordable entertainment.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web
}}</ref> By 1948, Hoyt and Kafka had opened 250 book rental locations.<ref name=":0" />
Hoyt opened the first Walden bookstore in Pittsburgh in 1962.<ref name="nyt-1982dec20" /> Within 15 years, the company had grown to over 250 locations in leased locations within various department stores. With the increased availability of low-cost paperbacks after the Second World War, rental library services were eventually replaced with retail book selling.<ref name="nyt-1953oct14">Template:Cite news</ref>
Acquisitions
By the 1970s, the company had sales of just under $200 million.<ref name="nyt-1982dec20" /> In 1969, it was purchased by the Broadway Hale Stores,<ref name="capitalistbook-2008">Template:Cite book</ref> a California-based department-stores holding company that was later renamed Carter Hawley Hale in 1974.<ref name="lat-1974feb12">Template:Cite news</ref> For the stand-alone bookstores, the company initially traded under the name Walden Books, written as two words. During the 1970s, the company gradually changed its trade name to Waldenbooks, written as a single word.<ref name="bg-1972aug27">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1984, Waldenbooks acquired three stores that were located in upscale neighborhoods from the bankrupted Brentano's chain with the original intent of converting the stores to the Waldenbooks brand,<ref name=wsj-1989nov15>Template:Cite news</ref> However, Waldenbooks discovered that when they continued to operate the newly acquired stores as Brentano's, the new stores were generating more sales than equivalent Waldenbooks, so Waldenbooks decided to continue and expand the Brentano's brand in select upscale neighborhoods.
In 1984, Waldenbooks itself was acquired by Kmart after Carter Hawley Hale needed to get cash to defend itself from a hostile takeover attempt.<ref name="nyt-1984jul24">Template:Cite news</ref> At that time, Waldenbooks was the largest retail bookstore chain.<ref name="prq-1997jan">Template:Cite news</ref> Under Kmart's ownership, Walden attempted to expand and diversify its business. In 1985, it opened a discount book outlet chain called Reader's Market by converting five existing stand-alone Waldenbooks stores.<ref name="va-1984dec06">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="nh-1984dec11">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="lat-1985jan28">Template:Cite news</ref> A year later, Walden discontinued the discount bookstores after disappointing sales figures. Walden later tried this concept within selected Kmart stores.<ref name="cnyb-1986mar10">Template:Cite news</ref>
After terminating the discount book strategy, Walden began experimenting with larger stores by opening Waldenbooks & More stores that included merchandise beyond books,<ref name="cnyb-1986mar10" /> WaldenSoftware computer software stores,<ref name="lat-1987apr05">Template:Cite news</ref> and WaldenKids educational toys stores.<ref name="lat-1987apr05" /> In 1987, Waldenbooks acquired the U.S. stores of the Canadian bookstore chain Coles Book Stores Ltd.<ref name="wsj-1987july22">Template:Cite news</ref> and gradually converted the stores to Waldenbooks. By 1990, Waldenbooks began to convert Waldenbooks & More into even larger Waldenbooks & More Books stores with a greatly expanded book selection.<ref name="nyt-1990sep30">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1992, Walden opened nine book superstores under the Basset Book Shop name;<ref name=mn-1992jul06>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=nyt-1992nov08>Template:Cite news</ref> ultimately these stores were converted to Borders locations after the merger.<ref name=pn-1993mar05>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=wsj-1992dec09>Template:Cite news</ref>
Kmart expanded its bookstore holdings by acquiring Borders in 1992.<ref name=nyt-1992oct03>Template:Cite news</ref> At that time, Kmart kept Borders and Waldenbooks separate, but converted Waldenbooks' Bassett stores to the Borders brand.
When Kmart decided to spin off its noncore subsidiaries in 1994, Kmart merged Waldenbooks, Brentano's, and Borders to form the Borders-Walden Group.<ref name=nyt-1994jan05>Template:Cite news</ref> At that time, Waldenbooks had 1,216 stores in all 50 states.<ref name=pn-1994feb28>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1995, the renamed Borders Group was able to buy back its company shares<ref name=nyt-1995aug17>Template:Cite news</ref> and it was listed independently on the New York Stock Exchange.<ref>Borders Group Media Relations. Borders Group Inc. Media Relations FAQs. Retrieved December 5, 2004. Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name=nyt-1995may26>Template:Cite news</ref>
Beginning in 2004, many Waldenbooks locations were rebranded as Borders Express stores.<ref name=ha-2004may20>Template:Cite news</ref> Borders Group, in an attempt to increase profits and lower the overall expense of their Waldenbooks brand, also announced that it was downsizing the Waldenbooks chain to respond to the current "competitive environment". In January 2010, 200 stores, almost two-thirds of the total, were closed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=pn-2009nov05>Template:Cite press release</ref>
On July 18, 2011, Borders Group filed for liquidation to close all of its remaining Waldenbooks and other stores.<ref name=qct-2011jul18>Template:Cite news</ref> Liquidation commenced on July 22, 2011.
In popular culture
- In season 4, episode 9 (Nov. 25, 1977 air date) of The Rockford Files titled "The Mayor's Committee from Deer Lick Falls", Jim Rockford is looking for someone in a mall and stands outside a Waldenbooks.
- In season 6, episode 13 (air date January 26, 1995) of Seinfeld titled "The Scofflaw", several scenes take place in a Waldenbooks, where Jake Jarmel has book signings and interactions with the other characters. A Waldenbooks store is also shown in season 8, episode 21 ("The Muffin Tops"), where J. Peterman signs his autobiography.
- On July 16, 2018, streaming service Netflix released a teaser for the upcoming third season of its hit series Stranger Things. The ad was made in the style of a 1985 mall advertisement, and includes an image of a "newly opened" Waldenbooks store among its offerings. In reality, the crew of Stranger Things did a cosmetic restoration of a portion of the Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth, Georgia, returning authentic signage and storefronts to the mall to represent many businesses that have since ceased to exist.<ref>Coming Soon: The Starcourt Mall! Hawkins, Indiana (Stranger Things Season 3 Teaser | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXyju7zFwyE</ref><ref>Gwinnett Place Mall Transformed for 'Stranger Things' Season 3 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hWG5tnCj2g</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See also
References
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- 1933 establishments in Connecticut
- 2011 disestablishments in Michigan
- American companies established in 1933
- American companies disestablished in 2011
- Bookstores established in the 20th century
- Chain bookstores of the United States
- Companies based in Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Companies based in Stamford, Connecticut
- Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011
- Defunct companies based in Connecticut
- Defunct retail companies of the United States
- Kmart
- Retail companies established in 1933
- Retail companies disestablished in 2011