| Former type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Fate | Liquidation |
| Founded | 1966 |
| Defunct | December 2011 |
| Headquarters | Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA |
| Number of locations | 798 at peak; approx. 50 at closing |
| Area served | USA |
| Key people | Richard Hagen, president |
| Products | Books |
| Parent | Barnes & Noble |
B. Dalton Bookseller (often called B. Dalton or B. Dalton's) was 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.
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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] Dalton was a spelling variation of Dayton. 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 1979.[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.
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 January 2010 Barnes & Noble closed the last 50 B. Dalton locations.[5]
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] B. Dalton was also a longtime sponsor of the PBS TV series Reading Rainbow.
In 1986, B. Dalton opened the first Software Etc., which sold video game and entertainment software products.[2] Software Etc. initially began operating in B. Dalton book stores but was spun off in 1987 and began focusing on standalone stores. In 1994, Software Etc. successfully merged with competitor Babbage's. In 1996, NeoStar Retail Group Inc., then owner of Software Etc. and Babbage's, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and put the two chains up for sale. By November, NeoStar had failed to find a buyer and announced in that all 707 stores owned by the company would close in the next year.[6] By November 26, the plan to close the stores were halted as NeoStar's assets were sold to an investor group led by retailer Leonard Riggio. In 1999, the newly formed Babbage's Etc. launched the GameStop chain and was sold to Barnes & Noble. The sale would reunite the Software Etc. chain with its original parent company, B. Dalton. Barnes & Noble would purchase Funco, Inc. in 2000 and merge Babbage's Etc. to become wholly owned subsidiary of Funco. Funco would change its name to GameStop, Inc. and become independent from Barnes & Noble by 2004. Since then, GameStop has phased the Software Etc. name from most stores.