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Crown Books was a bookseller headquartered in Lake Arbor, an unincorporated community in Prince George's County, Maryland, near Largo and Upper Marlboro.〔"(Lake Arbor CDP, Maryland )." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on January 18, 2011.〕 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. ==Founding and growth== Crown Books was founded in the Washington, D.C., metro area in 1977 by Robert Haft 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. Now You'll Never Pay Full Price Again!") 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 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 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 supplemented 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 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. 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「Crown Books」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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