Chapter 11, the Atlanta, Ga., area bookstore chain that used to have
the slogan "prices so low, you'd think we were going bankrupt," filed
for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Saturday. The company is closing seven
underperforming stores and will focus on the remaining six.
Owner Perry Tanner emphasized to Shelf Awareness that he made the decision after looking at the stores by a standard of "what a store we might open in today's environment would look like," including inventory and selection. Two of the seven stores are in Gainesville and Athens while the other five are in Atlanta. The surviving stores are in Peachtree Battle, Ansley Mall, Sandy Springs, Emory, Northlake/Briarcliff and Highland Plaza in Marietta. Books in stores being closed are being moved into the remaining stores, "doubling our inventory for Christmas," Tanner said.
One of the stores being closed, in Snellville, this year had been converted into a Chapter 11 Outlet, selling mainly bargain books and, in a first for Chapter 11, used books. Tanner said the company had double-digit growth in sales of used books online, a much better performance than in the store, so all used stock will be sold only on the Web site. Laughing, he noted an advantage: "Rent online is a little easier than in real life."
Tanner and his family bought Chapter 11 just over three years ago (Shelf Awareness, August 1). In recent months, the company has closed several stores. Tanner had noted that a substantial number of Chapter 11 outlets were opened in the 1990s by the company founders in strip malls that were once cutting edge but now have been superseded by newer, fancier shopping malls or are in areas whose population has moved farther from the city center.
With the bankruptcy filing, "We now have a clean sheet and we're in a position to have a successful Christmas," he stated.
Owner Perry Tanner emphasized to Shelf Awareness that he made the decision after looking at the stores by a standard of "what a store we might open in today's environment would look like," including inventory and selection. Two of the seven stores are in Gainesville and Athens while the other five are in Atlanta. The surviving stores are in Peachtree Battle, Ansley Mall, Sandy Springs, Emory, Northlake/Briarcliff and Highland Plaza in Marietta. Books in stores being closed are being moved into the remaining stores, "doubling our inventory for Christmas," Tanner said.
One of the stores being closed, in Snellville, this year had been converted into a Chapter 11 Outlet, selling mainly bargain books and, in a first for Chapter 11, used books. Tanner said the company had double-digit growth in sales of used books online, a much better performance than in the store, so all used stock will be sold only on the Web site. Laughing, he noted an advantage: "Rent online is a little easier than in real life."
Tanner and his family bought Chapter 11 just over three years ago (Shelf Awareness, August 1). In recent months, the company has closed several stores. Tanner had noted that a substantial number of Chapter 11 outlets were opened in the 1990s by the company founders in strip malls that were once cutting edge but now have been superseded by newer, fancier shopping malls or are in areas whose population has moved farther from the city center.
With the bankruptcy filing, "We now have a clean sheet and we're in a position to have a successful Christmas," he stated.