Crown Books
Encyclopedia
Crown Books Corporation was a bookseller headquartered in Lake Arbor
, an unincorporated
community in Prince George's County, Maryland
, near Largo
and Upper Marlboro
. It was founded in the Washington, D.C.
, metro area by Robert Haft
in 1977. Crown Books (retail) is of no relation to Crown Books
(publisher), although the former carried inventory from the latter.
with money borrowed from his father, D.C. businessman Herbert Haft
. The chain was organized under the umbrella of the Dart Group (not related to the current UK-based Dart Group
), which also included Trak Auto, Shoppers Food Warehouse, Total Beverage, Dart Drug
, and Combined Properties. Known for low prices, the chain gained fame in the 1980s and early 1990s for its clever advertising campaigns (such as Robert Haft sitting on large stacks of books with the caption "Books Cost Too Much, That's Why I Opened Crown Books.") At the beginning, Crown Books day-to-day operations were managed by Jose Gonzales (Vice President of Operations) and Jeanne Herrick (Vice President of Merchandising). Once the decision was made to expand into other areas the dynamic of Mr. Gonzales & Ms. Herrick was replicated into the California Market with the addition of Steve Young & Miriam Bass. Later Crown made the decision to enter the Chicago Market and that entry was managed by Richard Lowe & Rhonda Branch.
Crown Books grew rapidly, from its single store in 1977 (coincidentally the same year the Borders brothers founded Borders Books and Music, and a year before Len Riggio purchased failing New York bookstore Barnes & Noble
) to a regional chain of 196 stores at its height in 1993, close on the heels of Borders and poised to become the nation's second-largest book chain. While Classic Crown Books stores, which afforded customers between 2,000 and 3000 square feet (278.7 m²) of book selection, had been the backbone of the company since its founding in 1977, they were gradually phased out in favor of the larger, more competitive, superstore format adopted by the company in 1990. Stocking up to 80,000 titles--10 times the number carried in Classic Crown stores--Super Crown Books locations supplement the Classic Crown holdings with a large line of greeting cards, games, computer software, and an assortment of gift items. Each superstore provided between 12,000 and 35000 square feet (3,251.6 m²) of retail space.
Robert Haft showed great foresight in planning Crown Software in 1986, but his side projects made him late to the superstore scene which competitors Barnes & Noble and Borders had begun.
In 1993, the company was the third largest book chain in the United States, after Barnes & Noble and Borders, and had stores in Washington, D.C.
, Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia
, Houston
, Los Angeles
, San Francisco
, Sacramento
, Seattle and Portland
. With the advent of its Super Crown Books locations, as well as the boom in sales volume of competitors like Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Books-a-Million, the company reevaluated its Classic Crown locations and determined that several of the smaller stores would become increasingly unprofitable as the trend toward larger bookstores continued. In 1993, under the guidance of Glenn E. Hemmerle, president and CEO of the company from October 1992 through June 1994, Crown prepared the financial groundwork for closing several of its smaller stores.
A bitter divorce between Herbert Haft and his wife tore the family apart, and pitted Crown Books founder Robert Haft against his father. When Herbert tried to replace Robert as the head of Crown Books, the situation exploded and their back-and-forth exploits regularly made the front page of the Washington Post over the months between the fall of 1993 and the summer of 1994, becoming a regional media sensation. After Robert's firing, upper management positions were abandoned and refilled with some regularity, draining the company of both management skills and cash.
The family feud playing out among Haft family members appeared close to resolution by May 1994. However, four months later a jury awarded Robert M. Haft $34.1 million in compensation for a breach of contract by Dart Group and Crown Books. Several lawsuits and countersuits were filed by other members of the Haft family as each jockeyed for a controlling interest in family-controlled companies. By 1996 Crown found itself listed as co-plaintiff in a lawsuit brought against Herbert H. Haft by the Dart Group charging fraud and breach of fiduciary duty with regard to business transactions made during the course of Haft's divorce and resulting power struggle. Interestingly, Crown had been named as a co-defendant in similar lawsuits filed by shareholder groups as early as 1993.
Fortunately, a Standstill Order was entered in Delaware court in 1995, restricting certain relevant actions of the Dart Corporation until such time as all legal matters were resolved; by mid-1997 a conditional settlement had been reached with Herbert H. Haft whereby Haft would relinquish his position and voting rights in the Dart Group in exchange for approximately $41 million.
ing services to the crippled giant.
Crown emerged briefly from bankruptcy in 1997 only to fall back into it in 1998 under leadership of CEO Anna Currence
, strangled by lack of financing and stores too small to compete with the superstores of the competition (of the 56 remaining Crown Books stores after the first bankruptcy, only one had a drink bar, an ominous sign of Crown's out-of-touch management in the book retail marketplace). Crown emerged briefly from the second bankruptcy in spring 2000 with former Waldenbooks
CEO Charlie Cumello in the CEO seat, financed by private funding. In fall 2000, the company's debt was purchased by Wells Fargo
, which hounded the reemerging brand with collection fees until it eventually broke. In February 2001, Crown Books filed for liquidation, and in April 2001, ten of the D.C.-area stores and eight Chicago stores were purchased by Books-A-Million
for pennies on the dollar. The liquidation of the remaining Crown Books stores was completed by July 2001, when a former Palo Alto, California
, flagship store was shuttered.
Books-A-Million
closed one of the DC-area former Crown stores shortly after purchase, but remodeled the remaining 17 stores in 2001 and 2002, and hired on many of the former Crown Books staff. After Crown Books, Anna Currence
became an executive recruiter with Sarasota, Florida
-based Brooke Chase Associates Inc. Crown CIO
Susan Harwood stayed with Books-A-Million until 2007, when she joined Borders Books and Music as CIO. Crown Books area manager Rich Ball briefly assisted the Books-A-Million changeover, then founded book wholesaler The Page's Edge in Springfield, Virginia
.
Lake Arbor, Maryland
Lake Arbor is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. It is also known as Mitchellville. The population was 8,533 at the 2000 census...
, an unincorporated
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
community in Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....
, near Largo
Largo, Maryland
Largo is an unincorporated area and census designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, in the United States. The population was 8,408 at the 2000 census....
and Upper Marlboro
Upper Marlboro, Maryland
Upper Marlboro is a town in and the county seat of Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The live-in population of the town core proper was only 648 at the 2000 census, although Greater Upper Marlboro is many times larger....
. It was founded in the Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, metro area by Robert Haft
Robert Haft
Robert Haft, is a successful entrepreneur, primarily in health care, and became a household name in the Washington, DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, and Los Angeles markets for his Crown Books television commercial tagline, "Books cost too much."...
in 1977. Crown Books (retail) is of no relation to Crown Books
Crown Publishing Group
-External links:*...
(publisher), although the former carried inventory from the latter.
Founding and growth
Crown Books was founded in the Washington, D.C., metro area in 1977 by Robert HaftRobert Haft
Robert Haft, is a successful entrepreneur, primarily in health care, and became a household name in the Washington, DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, and Los Angeles markets for his Crown Books television commercial tagline, "Books cost too much."...
with money borrowed from his father, D.C. businessman Herbert Haft
Herbert Haft
Herbert H. Haft was a Washington, D.C. based businessman who was famous first for the development of discount stores in the drug store, bookstore, and auto part businesses, and later as a corporate raider...
. The chain was organized under the umbrella of the Dart Group (not related to the current UK-based Dart Group
Dart Group
Dart Group PLC is a holding company based in West Yorkshire, England, for an airline company based at Leeds Bradford International Airport historically linked with the Channel Islands and a distribution company based in Lincolnshire....
), which also included Trak Auto, Shoppers Food Warehouse, Total Beverage, Dart Drug
Dart Drug
Dart Drug is a now-defunct chain of discount drug stores in the metropolitan Washington, DC region. It was founded in 1955, by Herbert Haft and his wife Gloria in Adams Morgan. The chain expanded to over 100 stores, and became a vehicle by which Herbert Haft engaged in greenmail activities against...
, and Combined Properties. Known for low prices, the chain gained fame in the 1980s and early 1990s for its clever advertising campaigns (such as Robert Haft sitting on large stacks of books with the caption "Books Cost Too Much, That's Why I Opened Crown Books.") At the beginning, Crown Books day-to-day operations were managed by Jose Gonzales (Vice President of Operations) and Jeanne Herrick (Vice President of Merchandising). Once the decision was made to expand into other areas the dynamic of Mr. Gonzales & Ms. Herrick was replicated into the California Market with the addition of Steve Young & Miriam Bass. Later Crown made the decision to enter the Chicago Market and that entry was managed by Richard Lowe & Rhonda Branch.
Crown Books grew rapidly, from its single store in 1977 (coincidentally the same year the Borders brothers founded Borders Books and Music, and a year before Len Riggio purchased failing New York bookstore Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble, Inc. is the largest book retailer in the United States, operating mainly through its Barnes & Noble Booksellers chain of bookstores headquartered at 122 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in Manhattan in New York City. Barnes & Noble also operated the chain of small B. Dalton...
) to a regional chain of 196 stores at its height in 1993, close on the heels of Borders and poised to become the nation's second-largest book chain. While Classic Crown Books stores, which afforded customers between 2,000 and 3000 square feet (278.7 m²) of book selection, had been the backbone of the company since its founding in 1977, they were gradually phased out in favor of the larger, more competitive, superstore format adopted by the company in 1990. Stocking up to 80,000 titles--10 times the number carried in Classic Crown stores--Super Crown Books locations supplement the Classic Crown holdings with a large line of greeting cards, games, computer software, and an assortment of gift items. Each superstore provided between 12,000 and 35000 square feet (3,251.6 m²) of retail space.
Robert Haft showed great foresight in planning Crown Software in 1986, but his side projects made him late to the superstore scene which competitors Barnes & Noble and Borders had begun.
In 1993, the company was the third largest book chain in the United States, after Barnes & Noble and Borders, and had stores in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, Seattle and Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. With the advent of its Super Crown Books locations, as well as the boom in sales volume of competitors like Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Books-a-Million, the company reevaluated its Classic Crown locations and determined that several of the smaller stores would become increasingly unprofitable as the trend toward larger bookstores continued. In 1993, under the guidance of Glenn E. Hemmerle, president and CEO of the company from October 1992 through June 1994, Crown prepared the financial groundwork for closing several of its smaller stores.
A bitter divorce between Herbert Haft and his wife tore the family apart, and pitted Crown Books founder Robert Haft against his father. When Herbert tried to replace Robert as the head of Crown Books, the situation exploded and their back-and-forth exploits regularly made the front page of the Washington Post over the months between the fall of 1993 and the summer of 1994, becoming a regional media sensation. After Robert's firing, upper management positions were abandoned and refilled with some regularity, draining the company of both management skills and cash.
The family feud playing out among Haft family members appeared close to resolution by May 1994. However, four months later a jury awarded Robert M. Haft $34.1 million in compensation for a breach of contract by Dart Group and Crown Books. Several lawsuits and countersuits were filed by other members of the Haft family as each jockeyed for a controlling interest in family-controlled companies. By 1996 Crown found itself listed as co-plaintiff in a lawsuit brought against Herbert H. Haft by the Dart Group charging fraud and breach of fiduciary duty with regard to business transactions made during the course of Haft's divorce and resulting power struggle. Interestingly, Crown had been named as a co-defendant in similar lawsuits filed by shareholder groups as early as 1993.
Fortunately, a Standstill Order was entered in Delaware court in 1995, restricting certain relevant actions of the Dart Corporation until such time as all legal matters were resolved; by mid-1997 a conditional settlement had been reached with Herbert H. Haft whereby Haft would relinquish his position and voting rights in the Dart Group in exchange for approximately $41 million.
Bankruptcy
With the dissolution of the Dart Group, Crown was unable to find a buyer, and was forced into bankruptcy. After being hired to replace Jeanne Herrick as Vice President of Merchandising, Steve Stevens (Circuit City) replaced Glenn E. Hemmerle in the CEO seat. Over the next few years, the chain began to close over half of its 196 stores and pulled out of Houston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Portland, and Sacramento markets. It reorganized with help from Ingram Content Group, which provided jobberJobber
Jobber may refer to:* A being or tool that "jobs", pecks, or stabs, such as:**Jobber, a length of drill bit**Nut-jobber, a nuthatch**Tree-jobber or wood-jobber, a woodpecker* A brand of printing press by Golding & Company...
ing services to the crippled giant.
Crown emerged briefly from bankruptcy in 1997 only to fall back into it in 1998 under leadership of CEO Anna Currence
Anna Currence
Anna Currence was CEO of Kitchen Bazaare from 1993 to 1995, before she was recruited to the President and COO spot at ailing Crown Books in 1997. She assumed Crown's CEO position January 12, 1998. She was instrumental in the bankruptcy-emergence of the book retailer, though she left Crown in...
, strangled by lack of financing and stores too small to compete with the superstores of the competition (of the 56 remaining Crown Books stores after the first bankruptcy, only one had a drink bar, an ominous sign of Crown's out-of-touch management in the book retail marketplace). Crown emerged briefly from the second bankruptcy in spring 2000 with former Waldenbooks
Waldenbooks
Waldenbooks , operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain and a subsidiary of Borders Group. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware as well as a children's edutainment chain under Walden Kids...
CEO Charlie Cumello in the CEO seat, financed by private funding. In fall 2000, the company's debt was purchased by Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home...
, which hounded the reemerging brand with collection fees until it eventually broke. In February 2001, Crown Books filed for liquidation, and in April 2001, ten of the D.C.-area stores and eight Chicago stores were purchased by Books-A-Million
Books-A-Million
Books-A-Million, Inc., also known as BAM!, is a company that owns the second largest U.S. bookstore chain and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The company operates over 200 stores in the South, Midwest, Northeast...
for pennies on the dollar. The liquidation of the remaining Crown Books stores was completed by July 2001, when a former Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
, flagship store was shuttered.
The aftermath
After Crown Books' bankruptcy in 2001, Andy Weiss, owner of a private bookseller called A&S Booksellers, bought the Crown Books name and trademark and applied the name to most of his stores. In 2007, Ward Albright purchased the right to share the name with Weiss and opened more bookstores under the Crown Books name. The present Crown Books chain buys remaindered books and overstock in bulk from publishers at large discounts and passes the discounts to customers.Books-A-Million
Books-A-Million
Books-A-Million, Inc., also known as BAM!, is a company that owns the second largest U.S. bookstore chain and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The company operates over 200 stores in the South, Midwest, Northeast...
closed one of the DC-area former Crown stores shortly after purchase, but remodeled the remaining 17 stores in 2001 and 2002, and hired on many of the former Crown Books staff. After Crown Books, Anna Currence
Anna Currence
Anna Currence was CEO of Kitchen Bazaare from 1993 to 1995, before she was recruited to the President and COO spot at ailing Crown Books in 1997. She assumed Crown's CEO position January 12, 1998. She was instrumental in the bankruptcy-emergence of the book retailer, though she left Crown in...
became an executive recruiter with Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
-based Brooke Chase Associates Inc. Crown CIO
Chief information officer
Chief information officer , or information technology director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an enterprise responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals...
Susan Harwood stayed with Books-A-Million until 2007, when she joined Borders Books and Music as CIO. Crown Books area manager Rich Ball briefly assisted the Books-A-Million changeover, then founded book wholesaler The Page's Edge in Springfield, Virginia
Springfield, Virginia
Springfield is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States and a suburb of Washington, D.C. The Springfield CDP is recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau with a population of 30,484 as of the 2010 census. Homes and businesses in bordering CDPs including North Springfield,...
.
Sources
- "Aggressive Discounting Pays Off for Crown Books", New York Times, June 25, 1990
- "Winner of the Week", Enterainment Weekly, October 14, 1994
- Crown Books Corporation, Funding Universe. Accessed November 7, 2007
- "Dart Group sues chairman, CEO for $43 million-plus", Washington Business Journal, December 17, 1996
- "The Top 100 Public Companies — No 48: Crown Books, Washington Post, April 28, 1997
- "Crown Books in deep trouble; stock dives 39%", Washington Times, May 6, 1998
- Crown Books Corp., The Motley Fool, December 8, 1997
- "Crown Says Bankruptcy Is Possible; Book Chain Comments After Nasdaq Stops Trading in Stock", Washington Times, July 9, 1998
- "Crown Books Corporation History", International Directory of Company Histories Volume 21, St. James Press, 1998
- "Crown Books may face uncertain future", Discount Store News, July 27, 1998
- "Crown Books to Close 79 Stores and Lay Off 1,250", New York Times, August 4, 1998
- "14 Crown Bookstores Shut Doors; Bankruptcy Court Approves Plan", Washington Post, August 21, 1998
- Crown Books - Employment Agreement Re: Anna L. Currence, January 12, 1998
- "Crown Books Files Consensual Plan of Reorganization", Crown Books Press Release, July 1, 1999
- Crown Books Plan of Reorganization is Confirmed, Crown Books Press Release, October 7, 1999
- Crown Books Hires Charlie Cumelo as President and CEO", PRNewswire, November 19, 1999
- "Crown recruits ex-CEO of rival", Washington Post, November 30, 1999
- "Crown Books Files for Bankruptcy Again", Publishers Weekly, February 19, 2001
- "Borders Group Appoints Susan Harwood Chief Information Officer", Borders Press Release, August 20, 2001
- Letter to holders of Crown Books gift certificates, A&S Booksellers. Accessed November 7, 2007.
- "Discount bookseller takes on Crown name", North (San Diego) County Times, June 9, 2005
- "A bookstore does grow in Cupertino", Cupertino Courier, November 7, 2007