Book Stacks Unlimited
Encyclopedia
Book Stacks Unlimited was an online bookstore created by Charles M. Stack
in 1992, two years before Jeff Bezos
launched Amazon.com
. Stack's store, selling new books, began as a dial-up bulletin board located in Cleveland. It moved to the Internet as Books.com, eventually attracting a half million visitors each month.
Stack devised the concept in 1991 based on his personal fascination with reading and books, as he recalled in 1998:
In 1996, Book Stacks became a wholly owned subsidiary of Cendant Corporation, a consumer services company based in Stamford, Connecticut
and previously known as CUC International. In 1997, Book Stacks became part of Cendant's virtual mall, netMarket, a one-stop Internet shopping site which included an online music store and an online video store, both operating from the Book Stacks offices in downtown Cleveland.
Charles M. Stack
Charles M. Stack is an internet pioneer based in Cleveland Ohio. He is credited with founding the first internet store Book Stacks Unlimited, before the World Wide Web and the first web-based store Books.com. He went on to found Flashline Inc. an early adopter of code re-use in software development...
in 1992, two years before Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos
Jeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos is the founder, president, chief executive officer , and chairman of the board of Amazon.com.-Early life and background:...
launched Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
. Stack's store, selling new books, began as a dial-up bulletin board located in Cleveland. It moved to the Internet as Books.com, eventually attracting a half million visitors each month.
Stack devised the concept in 1991 based on his personal fascination with reading and books, as he recalled in 1998:
- I've always read a lot, so that was the germ of the idea. I'll pick a subject and read every book ever published on it. That's hard to do if you shop at a walk-in bookstore. Even the superstores don't have more than a couple of titles per topic. My dream was to have a bookstore that had every book ever published to feed my own habit.
Books galore
Offering 500,000 titles, Book Stacks had 35 staffers who gave their book recommendations to visitors. Other features included a daily literary journal, summaries of new books, RealAudio interviews with authors and forums in which customers could ask questions and discuss books. Books could be searched by title, author, subject, keyword or ISBN number.In 1996, Book Stacks became a wholly owned subsidiary of Cendant Corporation, a consumer services company based in Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
and previously known as CUC International. In 1997, Book Stacks became part of Cendant's virtual mall, netMarket, a one-stop Internet shopping site which included an online music store and an online video store, both operating from the Book Stacks offices in downtown Cleveland.