Waldenbooks

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Waldenbooks, operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., is an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain. It is named after Henry David Thoreau's most famous book, Walden. The Walden Book Company is a subsidiary of Borders Group. The Waldenbooks name will be phased out for Borders Express.

Contents

1 History
2 Currently
3 Preferred Reader program
4 Muhammad cartoon controversy
5 References
6 External links

History

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. (Borders Group Media Relations)

Currently

Like most mall-based retail stores, Waldenbooks prefers hiring young adults with a passion for or knowledge about what they sell, which leads to a high turn-over rate and fast promotion. It is not uncommon to a see a two-year employee running a store.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

In 2004 and 2005, many Waldenbooks were renamed "Borders Express." Borders Group Inc. has announced that all Waldenbooks will be "rebranded" over the course of the next few years.

Preferred Reader program

Started in 1990, the Preferred Reader program offered special discounts to anyone in the program. It required a small one-time fee to join, which was later changed to an annual fee. That fee paid itself back in savings if the customer bought a large number of books. Waldenbooks advertises rarely, if at all, and it relied on its Preferred Reader program to inform its best customers of sales and specials.

In October 2004, Waldenbooks announced that it was ending the Preferred Reader program. No new members would be accepted after October 5. Preferred Reader cards are no longer being honored and no new memberships are being accepted. At the same time, Waldenbooks greatly increased the number of sales and discounts available to the general public.

Preferred Reader members received a mailing in late October announcing the end of the Preferred Reader program. The mailing also announced a new program that would begin in early 2005 that would replace the Preferred Reader program.

On February 21, 2006 the Borders Rewards program was rolled out to all Borders, Borders Express, and Waldenbooks stores. The program differs from Preferred Reader in several ways. There is no fee for the card as opposed to the previous Preferred Reader. Also, instead of a standard 10% discount on all items it carries several rewards such as special discounts, extra members-only coupons, Personal Shopping Days, and Holiday Savings Rewards.

Muhammad cartoon controversy

On March 29, 2006, in response to the ongoing controversy over cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad, Waldenbooks' parent compnay, Borders Group, announced that Waldenbooks would decline to carry the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine, because of that magazine's decision to publish some of the controversial cartoons.[link]

References

Borders Group Media Relations. [Borders Group Inc. Media Relations FAQs.] Retrieved December 5, 2004.

External links

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