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Borders is discussing cutting the nationwide number of Waldenbooks stores from 300 to “50 or 60.” Which is not quite literally a decimation, but maybe close enough? Borders dropped 57% in quarterly earnings last quarter, but that’s not as bad as experts were considering. I used to buy my comic books and some of my Terry Pratchett novels at the Waldenbooks in the Maine Mall, so this is sad for me in a nostalgic sort of way.

22 replies on “Literacy In Malls On the Decline”

  2. Those are terrible bookstores, but I feel the same nostalgia. When I was a kid I’d get my dad $10 gift certificates to that place for his birthday, which would usually result in the purchasing of a paperback showing a man, probably on Mars (or similar), riding a space polar bear (or similar), holding a laser sword and probably a distressed maiden (or similar). God there was a lot of books like that in my house.

  3. It’s more than a decimation. Decimation is one in ten. When a Roman legion lost a battle, they were lined up & every 10th man was killed.

  6. #3, America does that too, but we include civilians. That’s why we’ve been in Iraq since “Mission Accomplished.”.

  7. Waldenbooks still exists?!? I haven’t seen one for at least 15 years. Are there still B. Daltons and Sound Warehouses out there too?

    @5, not even. More like glorified rack of books in the grocery store magazine aisle.

  8. I used to try to sneak peeks at The Joy of Sex in the Maine Mall Waldenbooks, while my grandmother was off in the romance section…

  10. “It’s more than a decimation. Decimation is one in ten. When a Roman legion lost a battle, they were lined up & every 10th man was killed.”

    Even better; lots were drawn and the other 9 in the group had to club the 10th to death (or stoning). And it wasn’t just after a defeat, but after cowardice in battle or an attempted mutiny.

  12. The last time I saw a Waldenbooks it had a display in the front full of all those bizarrely angry right-wing propaganda books by Newt Gingrich and Anne Coulter’s Adam’s Apple…good riddance.

  13. I remember looking through an “internet yellowpages” at the Waldenbooks that used to be on the Ave (waaaay back in the day).

    Didn’t realize that they still existed….

  18. You think that’s sad? In my old town, Waldenbooks was the only bookstore within 45 minutes. Borders shut it down last month. There now are no new-bookstores in the entire county.

  20. I stole gay porn from Waldenbooks when I was a teenager back in the ’80s. They carried Blueboy! I still remember, Johnny Harden was the centerfold.

  21. Walden Books is one of the main bookstores in Wasilla.

    Its kind of funny because Walden Books actually had a fairly good season, but it follows a trend for BGI of shutting down Walden books which are doing fairly poorly over all, at least that’s my impression. A cut back is probably a fairly smart move on the part of borders, Walden Books are in the process of being re-branded anyway, so a cut back to only the most profitable stores opens the way to further re-branding and also acts as a cost saving measure while BGI works to pay off its debt.

    I’m not going to lie, personally I think Walden Book in general is pretty terrible and have never shopped there preferring B. Dalton, or the bigger stores.

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