Joseph-Beth Booksellers is an independent bookseller with two stores in the United States. It formerly operated a total of seven under the Joseph-Beth name and two under the Davis-Kidd Booksellers name. The name "Joseph-Beth" derives from the middle names of its two founders, Neil and Mary Beth Van Uum. They opened their first store in
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...
in November 1986.
In 1989, they were recognized by the Greater Lexington Chamber of Commerce as the "1989 Small Business of the Year".
In 1997, the company absorbed 4 Davis-Kidd Booksellers stores in
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
in
Nashville
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
,
Knoxville
Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
,
Memphis, and
Jackson
Jackson may refer to:
Places Australia
* Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region
* Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region
* Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region
* Jackson oil field in Durham, ...
. The Knoxville store closed in 2000, but the Jackson bookstore remained open until 200
The Nashville and Memphis locations remained open until 2010 and continued to operate under the Davis-Kidd name.
On November 11, 2010, Joseph-Beth filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed the Davis-Kidd location in Nashville, as well as Joseph-Beth locations in Pittsburgh, Charlotte, and one of the two locations in Northeast Ohio. In May 2011, the company and three of its stores were purchased by the Lexington, Kentucky store's landlord. The
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 27,982. It is south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond, Virginia, R ...
Joseph-Beth and the Memphis, Tennessee Davis-Kidd locations were initially sold to a liquidator. However, Joseph-Beth founder Neil Van Uum was able to purchase the Memphis location with the financial backing of the Memphis landlord from the liquidators and continued to operate the store as The Booksellers at Laurelwood, as the Davis-Kidd name was purchased in the bankruptcy auction. This store has since closed, and a new
independent bookstore
An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store (although there are some multi-store independents). They may be structured as sole proprietorships, ...
has opened in its place. The remaining three Joseph-Beth locations—Lexington, Cincinnati and the Cleveland Clinic specialty store—remain in operation under the new owner.
On November 14, 2011, Joseph-Beth opened their fourth location at Crestview Hills Town Center in
Crestview Hills, Kentucky. This location was forced to close in May 2020 due to declining year-over-year sales and declining business due to
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
.
References
External links
Joseph-Beth BooksellersDavis-Kidd Booksellers
Companies based in Cincinnati
Independent bookstores of the United States
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