Bookstores broaden their scope in war for readers.New entrant en·trant n. One that enters, especially one that enters a competition. [French, from present participle of entrer, to enter, from Old French; see enter. joins competition as outlets grow, diversify The L.A. County bookwar plot is beginning to thicken thick·en tr. & intr.v. thick·ened, thick·en·ing, thick·ens 1. To make or become thick or thicker: Thicken the sauce with cornstarch. The crowd thickened near the doorway. 2. with a new competitor on the scene, and booksellers are diversifying and opening up stores that are two to four times the size of any already-existing super-bookstores in the area. Kmart-owned Borders Inc. plans to open a 43,000-square-foot book, music and video store on Westwood Boulevard Westwood Boulevard is a street in Los Angeles that runs through the heart of Westwood Village and further south in West Los Angeles. Westwood Blvd begins south of Sunset Boulevard in the campus of UCLA as Westwood Plaza. in West L.A. next spring. The colossal Borders Books & Music outlet will carry 170,000 book, 70,000 music and 10,000 video titles, said Dan Conetta, vice president of marketing for Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, city (1990 pop. 109,592), seat of Washtenaw co., S Mich., on the Huron River; inc. 1851. It is a research and educational center, with a large number of government and industrial research and development firms, many in high-technology fields such as , Mich.-based Borders Inc. Borders bookstores average 30,000 square feet, but this store will be particularly large because it is one of the company's flagship stores, Conetta said. Borders also is actively looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. sites in Santa Monica Santa Monica (săn`tə mŏn`ĭkə), city (1990 pop. 86,905), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1886. Tourism and retailing are important, and the city has motion-picture, biotechnology, and software industries. and the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , said Matthew May, director of retail for the Westside office of Beitler Commercial Real Estate Services. Borders is looking for sites all over the West Coast, said Conetta, who declined to name other locations the company is eyeing in L.A. County. Borders operates 43 bookstores nationwide, all of which are touted as full-price outlets that offer excellent service, Conetta said. Borders' most formidable competitor, Barnes & Noble Inc., already operates nearly 1,000 bookstores nationwide, including seven Bookstars and 33 B. Dalton Booksellers in L.A. County. The Bookstars average 10,000 square feet and carry about 50,000 titles, while the B. Daltons are about a fourth that size. But New York-based Barnes & Noble plans to open a 42,000-square-foot Barnes & Noble Bookstore soon at Third Street and Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard is one of the principal east-west arterial roads in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was named for H. Gaylord Wilshire (1861-1927), an Ohio native who made and lost fortunes in real estate, farming, and gold mining. in Santa Monica. The 100,000-title full-service yet discount bookstore will also house computer and music software departments and a Starbucks coffee/expresso bar. This particular outlet will be twice the size of typical Barnes & Nobles stores. The company opened a 15,000-square-foot Barnes & Noble outlet in Pasadena Nov. 26. Barnes & Noble plans to open more stores under the Barnes & Noble name in L.A. County during 1994, but company spokeswoman Donna Passannante would not specify how many. As far as competition with Borders is concerned, Barnes & Noble and Borders already vie in markets all around the country, Passannante said, adding, "There is definitely room for all of us." Conetta echoed the same sentiment. Borders already competes successfully with Barnes & Noble outlets in other markets and should be able to contend with them in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. as well, he said. "Everywhere you see a Barnes & Noble or a Bookstar, Borders wants to be," May said. "Borders is willing to pay top dollar for sites in order to obtain a market presence." A third competitor, Crown Books Crown Books was a bookseller based in Largo, Maryland. It was founded in the Washington, D.C. metro area by Robert Haft in 1977. History Overview Crown Books was founded in the Washington, D.C. Corp., operates 70 stores in the Los Angeles area, 17 of which are Super Crowns. Super Crowns average 10,000 square feet and carry about 35,000 titles. None of the stores carries music and most don't carry videos. Crown plans to open six more Super Crowns in L.A. County during the next six months, said Crown spokesman Stan Rubenstein. Crown has successfully competed with both Borders and Barnes & Noble in other markets and should do the same in L.A., Rubenstein said. Independent booksellers are warily watching the emergence of giant booksellers Borders and Barnes & Noble. "It's cause for reflection. (Independent) booksellers need to be aware this competition is coming to town," said Lise Friedman, president of the Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Booksellers Association. It used to be that all independents needed to do was find their niche. "Now it's find your niche and make sure you do your niche well," Friedman said. |
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