Some Waldenbooks Stores Get a Makeover

by Karen Holt, PW Daily for Booksellers -- Publishers Weekly, 10/15/2004

For years, Borders superstores have outperformed their mall counterparts, Waldenbooks stores. Now Borders Group is experimenting to see if a scaled-down version of the superstores will play better to book buyers.

The company has re-branded 35 of its Waldenbooks locations as "Borders Express" stores, revising the layout, décor and product mix to approximate the experience in the larger store. "It's a way for us to assess whether or not Borders Express is something that customers find more compelling in the mall environment," said Borders spokesperson Ann Roman. Unlike Waldenbooks stores, the Borders Express locations carry DVDs and CDs. They also have a slightly different mix of books, including more nonfiction and trade paperback fiction, than the Waldenbooks stores. One aspect they can't imitate is the breadth of titles. While superstores carry up to 200,000 titles, the mall stores have room for only about 15,000 to 20,000.

The test began in July with 17 stores. Another 18 stores were added to the experiment in September. As for what's next, Roman said it's too soon to say whether the company will introduce more Borders Express stores--and much too early to speculate on the eventual demise of the Waldenbooks brand.

"In our business, you really haven't tested something until you you've gone through a full fourth quarter," Roman said.

Since 2000, Borders has closed about 153 Waldenbooks stores, bringing the number left to 700. Last year sales fell 3.7% to $820.9 million. The company now has 445 superstores in the U.S., with sales that rose 6.5% to $2.5 billion last year.