Books-A-Million
Encyclopedia
Books-A-Million, Inc., also known as BAM!, is a company that owns the second largest U.S. bookstore chain and is headquartered in Birmingham
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

. The company operates over 200 stores in the South
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

, Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

, Northeast
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...

. As of 2010, the company had about 5,500 employees.

In addition to its flagship Books-A-Million superstore division, the company also operates the stores branded Books & Company and book and greeting card stores under the name Bookland. The company's stores mainly operate within either shopping mall
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

s or lifestyle centers
Lifestyle center (retail)
A lifestyle center is a shopping center or mixed-used commercial development that combines the traditional retail functions of a shopping mall with leisure amenities oriented towards upscale consumers...

. Most Books-A-Million stores feature Joe Muggs cafés
Coffeehouse
A coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on...

. Additionally, there are a few standalone Joe Muggs newsstands. These are located in the Birmingham area.

In addition to its primary retail component, the corporation includes a book wholesale and distribution subsidiary, American Wholesale Book Company (AWBC), an e-commerce division operating as booksamillion.com, and an internet development and services company, NetCentral, in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

. In 2011, Books-A-Million became the second largest book retailer in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 after the announcement from larger rival Borders Group
Borders Group
Borders Group, Inc. was an international book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company employed approximately 19,500 throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders and Waldenbooks stores....

 that it was liquidating all of its assets and going out of business.

Divisions

Bookland

Bookland was the precursor to Books-A-Million. It began as a newsstand started by Clyde W. Anderson. The profits from the stand allowed him to buy a bookstore, which was then inherited by his sons. They opened new stores and incorporated them under the name Bookland in 1964. Bookland was never shut down, though the number of their stores appears to have shrunk significantly from what was at one point 72 locations to 24 different locations throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, mostly dispersed through the southeast
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

.

Books-A-Million Superstores

The Books-A-Million superstore is the main retail entity of the Books-A-Million corporation. The first superstore was opened in 1988, though the company didn't post on the NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...

 until 1992. There are today 181 Books-A-Million superstores. The stores range in size from 8,000 to 36,000 feet, most typically around 30,000 They sell a range of goods including books, periodicals, gifts, and food offered in the Joe Muggs newsstands.

Books & Company

Books-A-Million purchased the original Books & Co. store, located in the Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...

 area, in 1992. A second Books & Co. store, also in Dayton, was opened in 2006. The original Books & Co. store closed on July 17, 2011 and was set to reopen as a 2nd & Charles used bookstore in August 2011.

booksamillion.com

BooksAMillion.com is the website for the Books-A-Million superstore chain, launched in 1998, but is specifically listed as its own brand. The site offers online dealings in essentially what the superstore also offers, including books, ebooks, toys and gifts, audio, magazines, movies, and music.

NetCentral

NetCentral was acquired by Books-A-Million in 1998, in order to manage their recently opened website. The company is classified in "On-Line Data Base Information Retrieval" and located in Nashville, TN. Upon acquisition, NetCentral "designed and developed the newly refurbished web site for Books-A-Million" The unit designed the current logos for Books-A-Million.

Joe Muggs

Joe Muggs are coffeehouse
Coffeehouse
A coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on...

s within Books-A-Million superstores. Books-A-Million began including Joe Muggs cafes in their superstores in 2001. Books-A-Million owns and operates the brand. There are a few standalone Joe Muggs Newsstands. The cafe is similar to the Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...

chain, offering coffee and pastries.

2nd and Charles

2nd and Charles is a division of Books-A-Million that specializes in trading used books, audio books, CDs, DVDs, video games, game systems, vinyl records and accessories. They buy and sell based on the condition and popularity of the product. The store has about 50 employees and 2 locations.

Yogurt Mountain

Yogurt Mountain is a division of Books-A-Million acquired on April 1, 2010. According to the press release, "Yogurt Mountain, an exciting self serve yogurt concept features 16 rotating flavors all of which are fat free or low fat and offers over 50 toppings for consumers to choose from. Yogurt Mountain's stores cater to the growing trend in healthy foods in a unique and entertaining environment." Yogurt Mountain currently operates over 30 locations in 14 states.

Further reading

  • Teitelbaum, Richard S. (January 25, 1993) "Companies to Watch: Books-A-Million". Fortune magazine
  • Stern, William M. (June 20, 1994) "Southern Fried Reading". Forbes magazine
  • International Directory of Company Histories. Vol. 14 (1996) St. James Press

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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