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Brentano's was an American bookstore and had numerous locations in the United States,. As of the 1970s, there were three Brentano's in NY, the Fifth Avenue flagship store in Rockefeller Center, one in Greenwich Village, and one in White Plains. There was a store in the Bergen Mall (Paramus NJ) which closed as the Short Hills, NJ store was being built. There was a store in the Chestnut Hill area of Boston, another in Austin, Texas. There were also two stores in the Los Angeles, CA area; in Westwood Village and Beverly Hills. There was a store in the Seven Corners shopping center in Falls Church, Virginia, outside of Washington, DC. Brentano's was owned by Macmillan in the 1970s and early 1980s, before being purchased by three of Brentano's higher ranking employees. Soon after, Brentano's became a part of the Waldenbooks subsidiary of Borders Group, Inc., an Ann Arbor, Michigan–based book and music retailer. ==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.〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 A year later, a second branch store was opened in Chicago in 1884.〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 Simon Brentano served as president of the firm until his death in 1915.〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 He was replaced by his brother Arthur. By 1928, Brentano's had four stores outside of New York City in Washington, Chicago, London, and Paris.〔 (Link ) via ProQuest.〕 One 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.〔 (Link ) via ProQuest.〕 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 their tenth store within the United States in Pittsburgh in 1930.〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 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.〔 (Link ) via ProQuest.〕〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 During the bankruptcy sale, financier (and later U.S. ambassador) Stanton Griffis and Chicago bookstore owner Adolf Kroch bought the firm.〔 (Link ) via ProQuest.〕 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.〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 Kroch kept his Brentano's store in Chicago as a separate subsidiary of his existing Kroch's bookstore until 1954 when both stores were combined to form Kroch's and Brentano's.〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 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.〔 (Link ) via ProQuest.〕〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 Five years later, Arthur Brentano, Jr. was replaced as president by Nixon Griffis, the son of Stanton Griffis.〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 The publishing company Crowell Collier acquired Brentano's in 1962.〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 At the time of the acquisition, Brentano's had 16 stores located in 5 states plus the District of Columbia.〔 (Link ) via ProQuest.〕 First store in the rapid expanding and lucretive Southern California market was opened in the affluent suburb of Beverly Hills in 1972.〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 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.〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 At the time of the sale, Brentano's had 28 stores〔 (Link ) via ProQuest.〕 with locations that had included Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Toronto, Dallas, San Francisco and San Diego.〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 Unfortunately, the new management was forced to file for bankruptcy less than a year later in 1982 and finally liquidated in 1984.〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕〔 (Link ) via ProQuest.〕〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 As part of the liquidation sale, the Waldenbooks subsidiary of Kmart acquired 3 stores that were located in Beverly Hills, Costa Mesa, and St. Louis with the original intention of converting the stores to the Waldenbooks brand.〔 (Alternate Link ) via ProQuest.〕 After remodeling, while keeping the Brentano's name, Waldenbooks discovered that the stores was 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〔 (Link ) via ProQuest.〕 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 July 18, 2011, Borders Group filed for bankruptcy and closed all remaining Brentano's stores. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Brentano's」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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