B. Dalton Bookseller

Former type	Subsidiary
Fate	liquidated 2010
Founded	1966
Defunct	January 2010
Headquarters	Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Number of locations	798 at peak; approx. 50 at closing
Area served	USA
Key people	Richard Hagen, president
Industry	Retail
Products	Books
Parent	Barnes & Noble

B. Dalton Bookseller is an American retail bookstore chain founded in 1966 by the Dayton's department store chain. Located primarily in shopping malls, B. Dalton competed primarily with Waldenbooks, and operated 798 stores at its peak. Barnes & Noble acquired the chain from Dayton's in 1987, and continued to operate it until a late-2009 announcement that the last fifty stores would be liquidated by January 2010.

Contents 1 History 1.1 1980s and 1990s 2 Format 3 References

[edit] History

This section requires expansion with: More history.

Dayton's, a department store chain based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, began the B. Dalton chain in 1966.^[1] The name B. Dalton was chosen because it "connoted quality, dependability and authority."^[1] The first store opened in nearby Edina in August of that year, followed by a second in St. Louis, Missouri. Although the chain was originally intended to operate in downtowns and suburban areas, the majority of the stores were opened inside regional shopping malls. By 1969, Dayton's had merged with Hudson's of Detroit and became Dayton Hudson Corporation (now Target Corporation).^[2]

B. Dalton expanded throughout the 1960s and 1970s, going from twelve stores in 1968 to 125 five years later, peaking at 798 locations in 1986.^[2] In 1968, the chain acquired Pickwick Books of California, which merged in 1976.^[1] B. Dalton had stores in 43 of 50 states in 1978, and was second to Waldenbooks (then the U.S.' largest bookstore) in store numbers, but posted higher profits than its rival.^[2][3] A flagship store opened in Manhattan in December 1978,^[2] and between 1983 and 1986, the chain revived the Pickwick name as a discount bookstore.

[edit] 1980s and 1990s

By 1986, discounting practices by rival book chains had caused declining profits for B. Dalton stores, as had the decrease in new shopping malls.^[2] As a result of the declining profits, Dayton Hudson Corporation sold the B. Dalton chain to Barnes & Noble.^[1][4] Under Barnes & Noble's ownership, B. Dalton acquired Scribner's of Costa Mesa, California, and began a video game store called Software, Etc. (now GameStop).^[2] At the same time, the chain began closing outlets and relocating others, while opening other prototypes. By 1997, the chain had shrunk to 528 locations,^[2] and continued to close many more over the next decade. In October 2009, Barnes & Noble announced that it would be closing the remaining fifty B. Dalton stores by January 2010.^[5]

[edit] Format

Initially, B. Dalton was targeted to middle class suburban customers, with stores that featured parquet flooring and wide aisles.^[2] Later on, the store switched to a mass market approach, allowing for a wider range of titles. B. Dalton was also one of the first chains to display hardcover and paperback books side-by-side.^[2]

[edit] References