B. Dalton Bookseller resurrected

[ClownLoach]

Barnes and Noble has rebranded their small format Oviedo, Florida store as B. Dalton Bookseller. Wonder if they'll try to pick up some of the better Amazon Books locations? (I can only think of two worth saving, University Center near Seattle and UTC San Diego - the others seemed to just be Amazon return desks)

https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.h ... 181#m55493

[buckguy]

Independent book stores are doing quite well these days. B&N must have thought a retro concept would work under those conditions. B Dalton wasn't as bad as Walden but they were the kind of generic chain that folded quickly with competition from Amazon because they didn't have much to offer. The indies have cultivated niches (children's books, mixes of new and used, author events) and non-book merchandise (often the last places to buy non-Hallmark cards), as well as customer service (old indie book stores usually were run by people who liked books but not people). Slapping on a new name won't compensate for a lack of imagination.

[BatteryMill]

I have heard some rumblings that this was solely to keep the trademark in B&N's hands. Other than that this sounds like a fun move.

[Alpha8472]

I remember those little mall chain bookstores. It was fun to browse books back then. These days the mall has nothing interesting.

[storewanderer]

The mall bookstores were something that used to get foot traffic in the 90's and even 00's though I think average purchase was pretty low and the stores tended to be a bit on the larger size for a mall.

I don't see bringing back the B. Dalton name as meaning much. That was a weak brand to begin with and faded off in most markets before Waldenbooks/Borders Express did. It does look like some last locations lingered after 2010, despite an announcement that the entire chain was being closed in 2009.

[buckguy]

Mall bookstores as junior anchors were different from the earlier generation of these which were small stores with best sellers, popular paperbacks and a middling newsstand. Walden had the smaller version of this. B Dalton had larger stores---they took over some mall book stores that had been indies and also took over some downtown department store book departments, but like a lot of non-apparel mall stores, they were a pale imitation of what one could get from a good specialty retailer. Mall record stores were like this, too.

The first time I saw a junior anchor was when White Flint Mall in Maryland divided up a former I. Magnin and Borders took over half the space early in its expansion--this replaced a nearby freestanding store. That was in the 90s. Simon, in particular, brought Borders into malls it redid later in the late 90s but these stores went into a quick decline as Amazon grew and this expansion probably had the paradoxical effect of helping kill the chain. B&N has never gone in for truly large stores whereas Borders had very large, two story flagship locations that competed with regional chains like Joseph-Beth as well as smaller B&N sized stores---the mall stores were usually B&N sized although mega-malls usually got the larger format. The Expresses were basically just the old Walden model. Other than broadening the music selection and discounting best sellers, Borders didn't really do anything to differentiate itself as it faced more competition. B&N seemed to go more in for coffee bars and non-book merchandise and they always had a much better newsstand selection. Their academic book stores which sell a lot of non-book merchandise are probably what keep them afloat at this point.

[storewanderer]

Mall bookstores as junior anchors were different from the earlier generation of these which were small stores with best sellers, popular paperbacks and a middling newsstand. Walden had the smaller version of this. B Dalton had larger stores---they took over some mall book stores that had been indies and also took over some downtown department store book departments, but like a lot of non-apparel mall stores, they were a pale imitation of what one could get from a good specialty retailer. Mall record stores were like this, too.

The first time I saw a junior anchor was when White Flint Mall in Maryland divided up a former I. Magnin and Borders took over half the space early in its expansion--this replaced a nearby freestanding store. That was in the 90s. Simon, in particular, brought Borders into malls it redid later in the late 90s but these stores went into a quick decline as Amazon grew and this expansion probably had the paradoxical effect of helping kill the chain. B&N has never gone in for truly large stores whereas Borders had very large, two story flagship locations that competed with regional chains like Joseph-Beth as well as smaller B&N sized stores---the mall stores were usually B&N sized although mega-malls usually got the larger format. The Expresses were basically just the old Walden model. Other than broadening the music selection and discounting best sellers, Borders didn't really do anything to differentiate itself as it faced more competition. B&N seemed to go more in for coffee bars and non-book merchandise and they always had a much better newsstand selection. Their academic book stores which sell a lot of non-book merchandise are probably what keep them afloat at this point.

I always preferred Borders to B&N. It just seemed like a friendlier type of operation, also I liked their coffee better. B&N always came off as more than a bit stuffy.

B&N spun off the college division years ago and it is no longer affiliated with the B&N store chain.

I'm not sure who controls B&N.com either, or if it is affiliated with the B&N store chain.

With that said I never saw a 2 story or flagship Borders. Every Borders I saw out west (other than the Express conversions of Walden units) was an early or mid 90's build strip mall power center type of store.

In Reno, NV, B&N has a very nice 2 floor store that is a very nice environment. It has not been maintained very well but it is a really nice building. It needs new carpets and a deep cleaning, and a total start over on the restrooms. I have seen some other B&N units like then when traveling as well.

There was a B. Dalton in Reno and it was gone by the early 90's (may have closed when the first Reno B&N opened which was in the building across from the current B&N now housing 99 Cents Only). After it closed Waldenbooks moved into that mall with a probably 12k square foot store that was very "deep" and it was part "Waldenkids." That store lasted until the end of Borders as Borders Express.

[Alpha8472]

B Dalton had a San Francisco location until about 2008.

There was a Flagship Borders Books in San Francisco in 2006 at the new San Francisco Centre Expansion. I believe that that store was 2 stories. Borders had Seattle's Best Coffee cafes. These cafes were very nice and featured drinks that Starbucks did not have. They also served ice cream.

Longs Drugs at that time also had Seattle's Best Coffee cafes in many of their stores.

I knew of one huge Waldenbooks at Sunvalley Mall in Concord, California. That was about 15,000 square feet and was almost like a Borders Books in size. It was closed in the early 2000s and replaced by a very small Borders Express.

[storewanderer]

B Dalton had a San Francisco location until about 2008.

There was a Flagship Borders Books in San Francisco in 2006 at the new San Francisco Centre Expansion. I believe that that store was 2 stories. Borders had Seattle's Best Coffee cafes. These cafes were very nice and featured drinks that Starbucks did not have. They also served ice cream.

Longs Drugs at that time also had Seattle's Best Coffee cafes in many of their stores.

I knew of one huge Waldenbooks at Sunvalley Mall in Concord, California. That was about 15,000 square feet and was almost like a Borders Books in size. It was closed in the early 2000s and replaced by a very small Borders Express.

The Reno Borders coffee area was built as a rounded portion of the building in the corner of the building (front corner) with windows and was quite nice, and felt spacious (but it wasn't really that big). Nordstrom Rack took over the building and the one thing they changed was to demolish that and make the building a normal square box. The B&N coffee area is elevated from the rest of the store by a few steps, but just feels overcrowded and dirty when you sit in it.

I think Borders got hit pretty hard given the music thing then book thing basically fell apart at the retail store level around the same time. B&N the focus always seemed to be more on books and they weathered the storm, probably as buckguy pointed out before, with great help from the college bookstore division (which at that time in the 00's was still the same company).

[ClownLoach]

On the Borders discussion - I know they were spun off from the Sears-Kmart conglomerate but I don't know when. I wonder if they were saddled with the parent company debt at the same time which weighed them down? Where they competed near B&N they always seemed to do better. And they were more focused on locations near Colleges and Universities to attract more readers vs. B&N who chose malls and entertainment oriented centers. They had a beautiful 2 story new build in Long Beach that opened around 1999 that was two stories. That particular shopping center didn't exactly choose the longest lasting tenants... Sav-On Drugs, Borders, Circuit City, CompUSA, Sears, and Bristol Farms. All that remains are Lazy Acres (health food chain operated by Bristol) and a CVS converted from the Sav-On. I am 99% sure the only surviving original tenant without a merger transaction name change is a Wells Fargo branch.