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Waldenbooks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Walden Book Company, Inc. | |
 |
|
| Type | Bookstore |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1933 Bridgeport, Connecticut |
| Headquarters | Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Books, magazines, comic books, maps, calendars, gift cards |
| Website | http://www.waldenbooks.com/ |
Waldenbooks (often called Waldens), operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., is an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain. The Walden Book Company is a subsidiary of Borders Group. Currently, there are 564 Waldenbooks stores in malls across America.
In the middle of the Great Depression, on March 4, 1933, Lawrence Hoyt decided to open a rental library in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Within fifteen years it had grown to over 250 locations. In 1962 he decided to open a bookstore, and in 1981 it became the first bookstore to have stores in every state. For a time it was owned by the now-defunct retail conglomerate Carter Hawley Hale.
In 1984 Waldenbooks was acquired by Kmart. That year it acquired the Brentano's chain. In 1994 it was combined with Borders to form the Borders-Walden Group. In 1995 the renamed Borders Group was able to buy back its stock and it was listed independently on the New York Stock Exchange.[1]
Since 2004, many Waldenbooks locations have been re-branded as "Borders Express" stores. Borders Group has also announced that it is downsizing the Waldenbooks chain to respond to the current competitive environment. It will close underperforming locations and make changes—such as product mix, store design and others--to remaining locations.
- ^ Borders Group Media Relations. Borders Group Inc. Media Relations FAQs. Retrieved December 5, 2004.
