Brentano's

History

Brentano's was founded as an independent bookstore in New York City in 1853 by August Brentano, who established a newsstand in front of the New York Hotel.

The first branch store for the company was opened in Washington D.C. in 1883. A year later, a second branch store was opened in Chicago in 1884.

Simon Brentano served as president of the firm until his death in 1915. He was replaced by his brother Arthur.

By 1928, Brentano's had four stores outside of New York City, in Washington D.C., Chicago, London, and Paris. On the eve of the Great Depression, the firm expanded rapidly to become the largest bookstore chain in the nation with four stores in New York City, plus single stores in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington. Unfortunately, the firm acquired a lot of debt in the process and its creditors forced the company to reorganize in 1930 while still allowing the Brentano family to manage the chain. Even though the company continued to have cash flow problems, the company went ahead and opened its tenth store within the United States in Pittsburgh in 1930.

The creditor-imposed reorganization plan of 1930 did not solve the cash flow problem. In March 1933, Brentano's was forced by its publishers and banks to file for bankruptcy.

During the bankruptcy sale, financier (and later U.S. ambassador) Stanton Griffis and Chicago bookstore owner Adolf Kroch bought the firm. Griffis became the chairman of the board of directors while keeping Arthur Brentano on as president. For his part in the bankruptcy sale, Kroch received the Chicago branch store and the exclusive right to use and control the Brentano's name within the states of Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Kroch kept his Brentano's store in Chicago as a separate subsidiary of his existing Kroch's bookstore until 1954, when the stores were combined to form Kroch's and Brentano's. Kroch succeeded in preventing MacMillan, Waldenbooks, and Borders from using the Brentano's name within the Chicago area market.

In 1944, Arthur Brentano died and was replaced as president by his son, Arthur Brentano Jr. Five years later, Arthur Brentano, Jr. was replaced as president by Nixon Griffis, the son of Stanton Griffis.

The publishing company Crowell Collier acquired Brentano's in 1962. At the time of the acquisition, Brentano's had 16 stores located in 5 states plus the District of Columbia. The first store in the rapidly expanding and lucrative southern California market was opened in the affluent suburb of Beverly Hills in 1972.

Two decades later, the corporate parent Macmillan, which had acquired Brentano's upon merger with Crowell Collier in 1961, decided to divest itself of Brentano's by selling the retail chain to Brentano's management in 1981. At the time of the sale, Brentano's had 28 stores with locations that had included Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Toronto, Dallas, San Francisco and San Diego. Unfortunately, the new management was forced to file for bankruptcy less than a year later in 1982 and finally liquidated in 1984.

As part of the liquidation sale, the Waldenbooks subsidiary of Kmart acquired three stores that were located in Beverly Hills, Costa Mesa, and St. Louis with the original intention of converting the stores to the Waldenbooks brand. After remodeling, while keeping the Brentano's name, Waldenbooks discovered that the stores were bringing in more money than equivalent Waldenbooks of the same age so they decided to keep the Brentano's brand and expand the brand to other upscale neighborhoods as the upscale bookstore brand for the Walden Book division.

In 1992, Kmart acquired Borders. At that time, it kept Brentano's in the separate Waldenbooks division until the formation of the Borders-Walden Group that was done just prior to the Borders Group being spun off as an independent company in 1994. Under Borders, the Brentano's stores were still managed by Waldenbooks. With increased competition during the 1990s and 2000s from superstores and Internet stores, Borders was forced to close the money-losing Brentano and Waldenbooks stores. On 18 July 2011, Borders Group filed for bankruptcy and closed all remaining Brentano's stores.

Stores outside of the United States

Europe

At various times in its history, Brentano's had stores outside of the United States. Under the leadership of Arthur Brentano, Brentano's had stores in Paris and London. Although the Brentano family owned the European stores, the stores were not a part of the same corporation that had owned the American stores and were not affected by the 1933 bankruptcy. It is not known when the Brentano family sold its interest in either store.

Both of these stores were frequented by American expatriates. Brentano's also used these stores as a way to distribute American newspapers and books by American authors that were not well-known outside of the United States, many of which were reprinted in Europe by Brentano's, to Europeans.

According to an 1887 New York Times article, the Paris store (Brentano's S.A.) was first opened on the Avenue de l'Opéra in 1887 by Arthur Brentano. This store was closed during the German occupation

The Brentano's on Avenue de l'Opéra in Paris closed in 2009 but was bought and reopened in 2010 by Iranian businessman Farock Sharifi.

The London store (Brentano's Ltd.) first opened in 1889. When that store opened, there were stores in New York, Chicago, Washington and Paris. According in a 1927 article in The Washington Post, the London store might have been replaced by a publishing office by that time.

Canada

Under Macmillan, Brentano's opened its first and only Canadian store in Toronto in 1975. This store had the distinction of being the only American-owned bookstore with a physical location within Canada. This store was closed shortly after Brentano's had filed for bankruptcy in 1982.

Publishing

From its headquarters at 586 Fifth Avenue, Brentano's became a publisher, with a specialization in French literature that led it to publish under the imprint "Éditions Brentano's" many titles by French writers in exile during the Vichy France period.

In an attempt to prevent possible liquidation of the company, the publishing department was sold to Coward-McCann in 1933.

References

References

1. "Brentano's - First Edition Identification and Publisher Information".
2. . (7 March 1883). ["Brentano & Co.: A Washington House Rivalling Its Famous New York Compeer."](https://www.proquest.com/docview/137889255). *[[The Washington Post]]*.
3. . (22 May 1884). ["Brentano Brothers Ad"](https://www.proquest.com/docview/172845135). *[[Chicago Daily Tribune]]*.
4. . (16 February 1915). ["Simon Brentano, Publisher, Dead: Head of Noted Firm Was the Oldest "Buff" of New York Fire Department. Expert on Fire Fighting Chiefs of Biggest Cities Often Consulted Him as Authority -- Began Career as Newsboy."](https://www.nytimes.com/1915/02/16/archives/simon-brentano-publisher-dead-head-of-noted-firm-was-the-oldest.html). *[[The New York Times]]*.
5. . (15 January 1928). "Brentano's". *[[New York Herald Tribune]]*.
6. . (17 February 1930). "Book Publishers Plan to Control Brentano Stores: New York and Boston Committee to Co-operate in Financial Reorganization; Laid to Overexpansion; Members of Family to Remain as Company Officers". *[[New York Herald Tribune]]*.
7. . (21 January 1930). ["Brentano's Rents in Pittsburgh."](https://www.nytimes.com/1930/01/21/archives/brentanos-rents-in-pittsburgh.html). *[[The New York Times]]*.
8. . (31 March 1933). "Brentano Suit Asks Receiver in Bankruptcy: 7 Publisher-Creditors Join in Move to Conserve Assets of Book Company Liquidation Not Planned Petitioners Avow Willingness to Advance Cash". *[[New York Herald Tribune]]*.
9. . (31 March 1933). ["Brentano's Is Put into Receivership: Publishers Filing Bankruptcy Petition Voice Intention to Keep Concern Alive. Liabilities Are $511,445 Assets of 80-Year-Old Chain of Bookstores Listed at $883,305 -- $1,500,000 Sales Last Year."](https://www.nytimes.com/1933/03/31/archives/brentanos-is-put-into-receivership-publishers-filing-bankruptcy.html). *[[The New York Times]]*.
10. . (28 April 1933). ["Brentano's Files in Bankruptcy."](https://www.nytimes.com/1933/04/28/archives/brentanos-files-in-bankruptcy.html). *[[The New York Times]]*.
11. . (8 June 1933). "Brentano's, Inc. Is Sold to Kroch, Chicago Dealer: $121,000 Bid Accepted by Creditors, Although N.Y. Firm Offered $9,000 More; Sale May Be Protested; Member of Bankrupt Book House to Continue With It". *[[New York Herald Tribune]]*.
12. Babcock, Frederic. (21 November 1954). "Hail Kroch's & Brentano's Giant Store: New Kroch's & Brentano's". [[Chicago Daily Tribune]].
13. Quinn, T.J.. (29 December 1997). "Walden Book Company, Inc. and Kroch's & Brentano's, Inc. v. Brenntano Co., Ltd.". United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
14. Chase, Al. (1 October 1953). "Kroch's plans big new store at Brentano's: Moving in '54 from Michigan Av.". [[Chicago Daily Tribune]].
15. . (27 May 1990). ["How Kroch's got its start"](http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CSTB&p_theme=cstb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB372E8EED7B72B&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM). *[[Chicago Sun-Times]]*.
16. (30 January 1944). "Arthur Brentano Is Dead at 85; Head of Brentano's Book Stores". [[New York Herald Tribune]].
17. . (30 January 1944). ["Arthur Brentano, Bookseller, Dead: Head of Largest Retail Outlet of Kind in World Started as Newsboy With Firm in 1873"](https://www.nytimes.com/1944/01/30/archives/arthur-brentano-bookseller-dead-head-of-largest-retail-outlet-of.html). *[[The New York Times]]*.
18. . (4 November 1949). ["Brentano's Book Stores Elect a New President"](https://www.nytimes.com/1949/11/04/archives/brentanos-book-stores-elect-a-new-president.html). *[[The New York Times]]*.
19. . (5 April 1962). ["Crowell Buying Brentano's, N.Y. Book Retailer"](http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1962/04/05/page/119/article/crowell-buying-brentanos-n-y-book-retailer). *[[Chicago Daily Tribune]]*.
20. Fowle, Farnsworth. (5 April 1962). "Crowell-Collier Buys Brentano's And Will Run It as Subsidiary: Brentano's, Dealers in Books--Leather-Bound to Paper-Backed". [[The New York Times]].
21. . (18 April 1962). "Literati: Crowell's Brentano's Buy".
22. . (26 November 1972). ["Brentano's Getting 1st Area Store"](https://www.proquest.com/docview/157202109). *[[Los Angeles Times]]*.
23. Pace, Eric. (25 July 1981). "Officers May Buy Brentano's". [[The New York Times]].
24. . (4 August 1981). ["Macmillan Completes Sale of Brentano's Bookstore Unit"](https://www.proquest.com/docview/134615043). *[[The Wall Street Journal]]*.
25. Emblidge, David. (June 2014). "Brentano's: Books Afloat on a Sinking Ship". Publishing Research Quarterly.
26. . (5 August 1981). ["Executives Buy Brentano's"](https://www.proquest.com/docview/294084609). *[[The Boston Globe]]*.
27. Yoshihara, Nancy. (22 May 1982). "Brentano Bookstore Chain Files Bankruptcy Petition". [[Los Angeles Times]].
28. . (14 August 1983). ["Brentano's Sells All 28 Bookstores Throughout the United States"](https://www.proquest.com/docview/153556121). *[[Los Angeles Times]]*.
29. Pace, Eric. (22 May 1982). "Brentano's Bankruptcy Filing". [[The New York Times]].
30. Cox, Meg. (15 November 1989). "Mass Marketers of Books Aim to Be Class Marketers: Comparing Best Sellers". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
31. . (3 October 1992). ["Kmart to Purchase Borders Bookstores Chain"](https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/03/business/company-news-kmart-to-purchase-borders-bookstores-chain.html). *[[The New York Times]]*.
32. Knauer, Orren F.. (28 February 1994). "Kmart Corporation announces Borders-Walden Group 1993 results". [[PR Newswire]].
33. . (5 January 1994). ["Kmart to Sell Stakes in Unit"](https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/05/business/company-news-kmart-to-sell-stakes-in-unit.html). *[[The New York Times]]*.
34. DeWitt, Jennifer. (3 January 2005). "Brentano's closing its books at NorthPark". [[Quad-City Times]].
35. . (15 January 2009). ["Brentano's closing downtown"](http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/01/12/daily61.html). *[[Cincinnati Business Journal]]*.
36. Schorpp, Doug. (18 July 2011). "All Waldenbooks, Borders stores closing". [[Quad-City Times]].
37. . (17 October 1887). ["A Surprise for Parisians.: Brentano to Open A Bookstore in the Gay Capital."](https://www.nytimes.com/1887/10/17/archives/a-surprise-for-parisians-brentano-to-open-a-bookstore-in-the-gay.html). *[[The New York Times]]*.
38. . (21 February 1945). "Brentano's to Reopen in Paris". *[[New York Herald Tribune]]*.
39. (15 June 2009). "Brentano's Paris To Finally Close". book2book/booktrade.info.
40. Kehe, Marjorie. (23 June 2009). "Brentano's Paris shuts its doors". [[The Christian Science Monitor]].
41. (17 February 2010). "Paris American bookshop to reopen". [[Radio France Internationale.
42. . (9 February 2010). ["Brentano's in Paris to reopen -- the rich get richer"](http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/books/blog/2010/02/brentanos_in_paris_to_reopen_t.html). *[[The Baltimore Sun]]*.
43. . (9 February 1889). ["Literary Notes."](https://www.proquest.com/docview/561978918). *[[Detroit Free Press]]*.
44. . (16 January 1927). ["Brentano's Will Open New Store Tomorrow: Third Change for Famous Book Firm Branch First Here in 1884. To New Baker Building"](https://www.proquest.com/docview/149823730). *[[The Washington Post]]*.
45. French, William. (25 September 1979). "William French Publishing takeovers test Tories". [[The Globe and Mail]].
46. . (3 February 1933). "Coward-McCann Buys Book List of Brentano's: Publishing Department Disposed of to Enable Firm to Concentrate on Selling Shaw Works Not Included Business Started 50 Years Ago With DeLuxe Editions". *[[New York Herald Tribune]]*.