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