I just read this and it made me very sad.

I remember B. Dalton when it was all over the Twin Cities - especially the stores in Rosedale, Downtown Minneapolis by the Midwest Federal Bank, and Southdale. I also remember the one in the Stanford Shopping Center.

Each was kind of unique:

The Rosedale one was cool, because it was the one close-by to me, and it had a really cool little 'popout' to the big rectangular shape of the store in the back left, where science books and others were found. When you were in the popout, you couldn't see the mall entrance, so you felt surrounded by bookstore. It was wonderful. :)

The Southdale one had its own extended area, but to the right, and was always super-crowded for some reason.

The Midwest Federal one was quite large, and with double-story height ceilings - with the big glass windows I felt in a slice of Manhattan.

The Stanford Shopping Center one I remember, because coming out to college, I recall finding it and thinking "Yay! A bookstore!" then I discovered GOOD bookstores, like Keplers, and I realized how pathetic the B. Daltons were. My innocence was lost, and I never looked back.

But I'd pay lots of money if I could somehow go back to that B. Dalton in Rosedale, in the early 1970s, back when it had orange section signs, sold 3M "bookshelf games" and had parquet floors... and just wander about it for 30 minutes...

Oh well. Just another part of childhood lost.

B. Dalton and Waldenbooks are the ones I remember from my childhood.

Oh, this is sad. It was the first chain bookstore I ever remember visiting. :o( I remember being blown away by the size of it and the selection they had. I know chains have 'done in' the independents , but I think they've made books so much more accessible to people who wouldn't have been able to buy them otherwise. :o(

I can't remember a B. Dalton's being around here for years. I do think it is sad that more and more stores are closing and we are left with less to pick from so there is less competition for customers. The less to pick from the worse the customer service is because it seems like they figure you have nowhere else to go.

Mensagem editada pelo seu autor, Nov 6, 2009, 7:45am.

Wow. This is news. Our B. Dalton in the mall is a pretty busy place.

Before it became the local B. Daltons, our bookstore was called The Paperback Booksmith. I loved it in there. Discovered Interview With The Vampire there before it became trendy. Found a Patrick McGrath novel (it was Spider) there because the cover was cool and he became a favorite. Sadly it's long gone.

Mensagem editada pelo seu autor, Nov 6, 2009, 2:40pm.

I still have a bookmark from Paperback Booksmith. Can't believe how old it is. Has to be from the 70s.

I'm getting old.

Old Sarge you are not that old--I remember going to Paperback Booksmith all the time in high school!

Aww. I remember buying many books at the local B. Dalton as a kid. Haven't seen one in years.

it's kinda weird to feel sad about the end of a giant corporation. Im not sure why.

Many Walden Books will be closing soon, too.

Mensagem editada pelo seu autor, Nov 6, 2009, 11:39pm.

#11 Gosh -- More than half!

...Wow, weird. I just looked through the list, and realized that the Waldenbooks where I will be doing a Christmas book signing will be closing the following month. How sad, to think that the second-largest mall in North Carolina will not have a bookstore in it, or even on its periphery.

For anybody else who's curious about your local Waldenbooks, here's a link to the .pdf list: Waldenbooks list

That does make me sad. I used to work for Waldenbooks -- was working there when the chain was bought by Borders. Have many fond, strange memories of working there.

We lost our B. Dalton about 5 years ago when Barnes & Noble (their owners) built a free-standing store. Can't say it was a bad thing, except for my income and shelf space. Wow, I forgot about those parquet floors! :)

I'm surprised our Waldenbooks isn't on that list. It's a slow store in a mostly-dead mall. (I'd like to see the whole mall razed.)

Have you guys noticed a preponderance over the last few years for B&N stores to become reattached to the malls? I've seen it in a few states... I wonder what prompted the move. And I wonder if it will do them any better business.

Good question. We have 2 large B&N in our area, plus a B.Dalton at one of our malls. I frequent all the stores, and they always seem to be busy. Those of us that frequent know that our B. Dalton is basically the same as small B&N. Some of the sections (like the graphic novel/manga, romance, and magazine) are larger than the bigger stores. I always have some type of B&N coupon on top of membership to use in each store.

buchleser, they probably paid a sophisticated market research firm big bucks to perform a detailed survey that discovered, by golly, people walking around inside the mall are more likely to walk into a store that's actually in the mall than one that isn't.

Two large Barnes & Nobles have closed recently in NYC- one in Astor Place and the other in Chelsea. Haven't seen a B Dalton in some time, though I remember when there was one on 5th Avenue, not far from a B & N and a Brentano's...and a Waldenbooks I think. None of those locations exist anymore.

I remember Paperback Booksmith from the 70s. We had one in our local mall. I found Dhalgren there. Still a vivid memory.

It closed and was never replaced with any other book store.

The chains came in, but they are in the south end of the city, and I am in the north.

That mall also died, and has become a collection on strip stores.