Bookstop Inc. was a

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

-based chain of

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The found ...

s that was at one time the fourth-largest bookselling chain in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 1989

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

acquired the company, at which point it became a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble. The chain also did business under the name Bookstar due to trademark conflicts in other states.

Business model

Laura J. Miller, author of ''Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption'', wrote that the chain "combined discounting with very wide selection, careful attention to display, and a reliance on sophisticated information systems in order to build a chain that would appeal to affluent, educated readers."Miller, Laura. ''Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption''.

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...

, September 15, 2008. , 9780226525921. p
50
Jason Epstein, author of ''Book Business: Publishing Past, Present, and Future'', described the chain as being modeled on the supermarket concept. Miller stated that the store format was "consciously" modeled after the format of the

Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1948 in Washington, D.C.; its first store was built in April 1948, with i ...

stores. Laura Elder of the ''

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'' wrote that the chain "pioneered the superstore concept". Hoover himself states that "While the execution of the idea was difficult and complex, the core idea was not. We simply took the retail business model of Toys R Us — giant single-category stores with large product selections and low prices — and applied it to books." Bookstop measured how well a title sold for 130 days after being placed on the shelves to decide whether to retain it in stores beyond that point. If the book was considered definitive in its field, it could remain even without strong sales.

History

Bookstop opened in 1982, established by Gary Hoover and Steve Mathews.Elder, Laura.
Barnes & Noble ends self-competition by closing Bookstop store
" ''

''. November 17, 1997. Retrieved on April 7, 2014. "Bookstop pioneered the superstore concept when Gary Hoover and Steve Mathews formed the Austin chain in 1982."

Patrick Spain Patrick J. Spain (born 1952) is a serial entrepreneur. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of First Stop Health, LLC., a Chicago-based provider of telemedicine services. He is also the Executive Chairman and co-founder of the news curation sit ...

, who had attended university with Hoover, invested some of the original capital into the chain.Solomon, Steve.
The Dynamic Duo
" '' Inc.''. October 15, 1997. Retrieved on April 7, 2014. "In 1981, however, when Hoover started Bookstop, the nation's first chain of superstores for discount books, he renewed his partnership with Spain, who invested some of the initial capital." Its headquarters were in unincorporated Travis County,

, in

Greater Austin The Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area, metropolitan statistical area, or Greater Austin, is a five-county United States metropolitan area, metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Texas, as defined by the Office of ...

(using an

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

postal address). In 1989 the chain had a total of 22 stores in Texas, California, Florida, and Louisiana, and about $65 million in annual sales. For its superstore format, Bookstop acquired many former downtown theatres to turn them into vast bookstores.

Barnes & Noble acquisition

In 1989 the board of Bookstop asked Hoover to step down from his position. That year, Hoover and a group of venture capitalists sold Bookstop to

for $41.5 million. Barnes & Noble made the acquisition after a multi-month struggle with Crown Books, as both had purchased significant stakes in Bookstop with the aim of acquiring it. After Barnes & Noble completed the purchase, Crown sold its share in the company. Solveig Robinson, author of ''The Book in Society: An Introduction to Print Culture'', wrote that the purchase "gave arnes and Noblethe necessary know-how and infrastructure to create what, in 1992, became the definitive bookselling superstore." Miller wrote that Bookstop was "a key part of Barnes & Noble's early superstore efforts." After the acquisition, Bookstop-branded stores continued to exist, and Barnes & Noble became Bookstop's parent company. In 1997, Barnes & Nobles decided to turn the NY Bookstop into a B&N branded store. This initiated the process of retiring the Bookstop brand. In August 2009, the Bookstop at the Alabama Theater in Houston that opened in 1984 was turned into a Barnes & Noble.

References

Notes Sources * Bucholz, Barbara B. and Margaret Cran. "Bookstop, Austin, TX." In: Bucholz, Barbara B. ''Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm'' (A

Lyle Stuart Lyle Stuart (born Lionel Simon; August 11, 1922June 24, 2006) was an American author and independent publisher of controversial books. He worked as a newsman for years before launching his publishing firm, Lyle Stuart, Incorporated. A former pa ...

book). Carol Publishing Group, 1989. {{ISBN, 0818405074, 9780818405075. p. 145-159 - This book has a chapter on Bookstop

External links

Hoover's World
- Website of founder Gary Hoover Defunct retail companies of the United States Companies based in Austin, Texas Retail companies established in 1982 1982 establishments in Texas Chain bookstores of the United States Barnes & Noble Bookstores in Texas

Business model

History

Barnes & Noble acquisition

See also

References

External links