The Right Fit: Books-A-Million Thrives in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania

With the ever changing market of the capitalistic society we have today, it can sometimes be hard to appeal to the right crowd and to maintain that attraction as time goes on and trends change. Books-A-Million, however, seems to have found the ideal place, and the right use of their products to keep up a consistent crowd, whether it’s new customers or those returning. How then, does a smaller BAM store in a failing mall along a major highway manage this?

The official Books-A-Million logo, most often referred to as BAM!

Books-A-Million started as a newspaper stand in 1917, and has been growing ever since. Just that tidbit of information about their humble beginnings tells you something about the company and the people who run it– it has never been about the books. The founder of that newspaper stand expanded to magazines and then books, following the money at the time, and then they found their place among national book retailers.

Since BAM rebranded as a major chain store in 1964, their main focus has been to find the right merchandise to sell to the right crowd (like any other corporate company). However, each store has been given the freedom to alter their cookie cutter stock and layout in minor ways that appeal more to wherever they are located. This goes against what Jack Perry says about corporate book stores, stating that chain stores has a sameness about them in both appearance and stock, but it does agree with his idea that corporate stores have a much broader stock  than independent stores.(109) Having this bookstore in the mall seems almost intimidating, as it has outlived several other stores and is now one of the major staples of the Susquehanna Valley Mall (SVM). 

The store moved to the SVM in 2011, after Books-A-Million bought store space from the bankrupted Waldenbooks. At the time, the mall was more of a bustling hub, someplace to go after school or if you needed to go shopping. Since then, many of those stores have closed, leaving only the original Boscov’s anchor and a few other stores, which are closing at an alarming rate. And yet, Books-A-Million seems to be doing just fine, holding its place in the mall like the Waldenbooks before it.

Books-A-Million in the Susquehanna Valley Mall.

According to Tim Cresswell, a place that is only interested in making money can affect the areas sense of ‘self’, or the areas identity as a whole (59). So why does this BAM store seem to be the pride of the mall and the go-to store if it should be seen as negative and identity altering? It is because they are allowed that little freedom of changing layouts and stocks to appeal to the crowd they deem the best to appeal to. How can a corporate store be scary if it is carrying some of the best sellers for high school students and some of the most engaging stories for college students that actually have free time?

Selinsgrove has been a college town since Susquehanna University was established in 1858, so a good portion of the population has been young people for more than a hundred years. Along with college students, the town is home to many young families (Claritas). Between these two demographics, the identity of Selinsgrove has become one of children and young adults. Books-A-Million has noticed this formation of identity and in the last ten years has altered their stock, floorplan, and display to draw people in from the large customer base of people aged one to twenty-five.

The neverending shelves of books to choose from at Books-A-Million in the Susquehanna Valley Mall.

Psychographic statistics also show that the Susquehanna Valley has historically been home to a lot of lower middle class to lower income families (Claritas). These families are full of people working multiple jobs, picking kids up from after school activities, and rushing home to get dinner ready, so they want a speedy and inexpensive shopping trip, or else something to keep their children occupied while they pick up a pair of shoes or an item of clothing from elsewhere in the mall. In both cases, BAM has spent the past few years engineering their store to optimize appeal to the families that frequent the SVM and who might be in need of a new bedtime book or the latest Rick Riordan book.

Books-A-Million has found the perfect medium for bringing in as much profit as they can, they adhere to trends and offer titles and other products that are appealing to the locals, and they found a location that has the most traffic for the best chance of attracting customers (the only mall for quite a while). The history of BAM growing as a store, to eventually becoming a chain bookstore and turning corporate has influenced how it views literature and how literature influences the store. The changing economy and trends has shaped it into what it is today, a store that seeks the most money possible by presenting itself as a very warm, friendly, and up to date kind of store where there is something for everyone. It may not be as sincere or friendly as independent bookstores, but to many in the area, it just works.

 

Established in 1978, the Susquehanna Valley Mall in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania offers over 50 stores and services to areas within a 45-mile radius. Located on along the side of the North Susquehanna Trail and across from a Walmart Supercenter, the mall is in a prime spot for business. The neighborhood thrums with nearly 5,500 Selinsgrove residents, and that number grows by roughly 2,266 Susquehanna University undergraduate students and any parents or relatives that may visit during the school year. With the additional bonus of a highway location, the mall gets traffic from towns including Sunbury, Lewisburg, and as far as Harrisburg.

According to the Population Demographics for Selinsgrove Borough, in 2018 and 2019 the Selinsgrove population consisted of mainly white residence of 50 years or older and college students (18-25). Though there are many well-to-do college students not represented here, low wages and low education levels could put a strain on book buying. So, you may be asking yourself, how is it that Books-A-Million is still able to draw in customers and make enough sales to stay afloat?

In Reluctant Capitalists, Laura Miller discusses how convenient it is to have a bookstore in the mall. She goes on to state that corporate chain bookstores want everyone to feel welcomed and have shifted the image of the bookstore to one that is more entertainment-based (90). Books-A-Million is in a prime location for the Selinsgrove area; the Susquehanna Valley Mall is down the road from multiple strip malls, is less than fifteen minutes away from Susquehanna University and the Selinsgrove middle and high schools, and is surrounded by a handful of restaurants (see Google Map). If this Books-A-Million were anywhere else in Selinsgrove in their own building, they would not have as many customers because people would not be simply passing by. Rather, the bulk of the customers would have to plan to make a trip into the store. Time will tell for BAM as the stores in the Susquehanna Valley keep dwindling. It seems like Books-A-Million chose the right location to appease the area.

The Susquehanna Valley Mall of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania

The customers for the surrounding shopping centers are the same audience that Books-A-Million receives as well. Compared to local independent bookstores like DJ Ernst, Mondragon, Bible Depot, and Comics Metropolis, Books-A-Million offers the individual consumer experience. While browsing around independent bookstores, customers are generally surrounded by numerous books that fall into categories they might be interested in, as many local bookstores are quite niche. A customer also may get the chance to talk to the shop owner and get insight and suggestions that are meaningful and part of the reason they love to shop for books so much. When shopping around BAM, you are browsing around a store that may only have a shelf or two of your favorite genre, and you are essentially shopping on your own. BAM provides modern shoppers with a quick, painless shopping experience akin to online retailing with stock the consumer needs and no pointless chitchat.

When you walk around BAM, you are surrounded by titles pertaining to every imaginable subject. In other words, is seems BAM does not have an identified genre. Rather, it carries titles of all subjects to draw in a wide variety of customers. After all, BAM is a corporate chain, and ultimately strives to make as many sales as possible. The sales are one of the ways that helps keep BAM afloat. The bookstore adjusted its prices to fit those of the Selinsgrove area, which is that of a middle- to lower-class income. The sales racks are near the entrance to catch the eye of a passerby and red stickers showing price cuts can be seen peeking out from shelves all around the store.

Look at all of the fun books and toys to choose from!

After seeing the changes that Selinsgrove has undergone over the past twenty years, I can remember when BAM moved into the mall. Prior to Books-A-Million, the store occupying that space was another bookstore called Waldenbooks. The Waldenbooks was also a corporate chain bookstore that was very similar to Books-A-Million. It seemed that not much changed when the ownership changed hands except for the sign out front. BAM brought in more trinket items, a slightly different layout to the same genres, and a new name. Other than that, it seemed as though there was no real changes to the space that is still standing. The culture surrounding the bookstore has not changed. The population of Selinsgrove remains around the same number and is still primarily white. Susquehanna University still plays a huge role in making the general age of the population 18-25. So, even though the culture of Selinsgrove plays a role in the fate of the bookstore, it had remained the same over the years. So, we are left with a question that can only be answered through time, will BAM withstand the test of time?

Based on Laura Miller’s study on book selling, BAM has simply found the right environment to sell books in (40). Books-A-Million also has the advantage of appealing to younger shoppers due to being up to date on the latest fads and trends. As seen on our Google Map, the Selinsgrove area Middle school and High school are less than twenty minutes away. Parents and friends bring in these young shoppers, whom may be drawn in by the decorative display of the new Harry Potter books and trinkets. This is something you probably will not find in the independent bookstores.

Considering the state of the Susquehanna Valley Mall in which Books-A-Million resides, with vendors shutting down left and right due to economic struggles, it’s a wonder that BAM still thrives under such unideal circumstances. There are plenty of other options for readers to find what they’re looking for. Selinsgrove sports Super Stores like Target and Walmart and aesthetic independents like DJ Ernst on Market Street; for the Susquehanna University students of the area, it may be easier to order a book online or visit the library rather than go to this little corporate book vendor. However, Books-A-Million has continued to thrive since its opening in 2011 and shows no signs of shutting down despite the nature of its surroundings. What makes Books-A-Million such an ideal bookstore for Selinsgrove’s readers?  

Books-A-Million’s success comes down to its unique market of readers. Let’s refer back to the demographics of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Susquehanna University and the Selinsgrove Area School District make for quite a large population of young adults (18-30 years old) and budding families. These young students and parents are exactly who Books-A-Million and the corporate bookstore are built to accommodate. Corporate bookstores run with convenience, entertainment, and bargains in mind with mass merchandise, marked-down prices, and an array of flashy displays arranged in every chain (Miller 92). For families and students, Books-A-Million is the place to go for the books and entertainment they need cheap and fast. Not only that, but Books-A-Million easily makes the bookstore experience a family friendly event. While children immerse themselves in toys and merchandise that represent their favorite stories, teens and adults have a wide selection of best sellers, fantasy novels, and sci-fi trilogies to choose from.  

Walking around the Books-A-Million of Selinsgrove, these characteristics are absolutely apparent. This store’s stock and layout are catered to the young demographic, with young adult novels, fan merch, and children’s books brought right to the front. The store windows are filled with literature and merchandise meant for young ones while everything that doesn’t fall into these categories is pushed toward the back of the store. Even the Newstand is built to draw in young people; magazines such as Seventeen and Tiger Beat are displayed before any sort of newspapers and editorials. Take a look at this interactive floorplan to see how Books-A-Million strategically brings in Selinsgrove’s young readers and their families.

As long as Selinsgrove’s young readers have a need for literature, Books-A-Million will live on in the Susquehanna Valley Mall. Because Books-A-Million is a corporate bookstore, it can easily adjust its stock to meet the wants and needs of the population it serves, lower its prices without much consequence to their business, and use marketing tactics to attract book consumers in the area. For example, Susquehanna University college students are often in need of specific novels and textbooks for their classes. If a student isn’t able to get a needed book from their campus bookstore, the next place to look would be this Books-A-Million store. They are likely to have the exact book in store for cheaper than the original sticker price or on their website to be shipped the next day. This is an instance where going to an independent bookstore or superstore would risk not having the right book in stock or being outside of the student’s budget.

Books-A-Million has more than just books… it has all sorts of merchandise to enhance your reading experience.

It’s no surprise Books-A-Million has outlasted the other stores in the mall. The bookstore continues to appease to their target audience through convenience, deals, and overall merchandise. There is little to no doubt that the Books-A-Million in Selinsgrove is around to stay. However, there is much to debate on if they will remain in the Susquehanna Valley Mall. According to the Daily Item in 2018, a Women’s Health Care Center was rumored to take the former Sears building.

In their most recent article, the Daily Item stated, “The mall will be placed on the sheriff’s sale listing for Aug. 9.” Although August is still a few months away, there are still plenty of questions to ponder. What will happen to Books-A-Million? The chain bookstore may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s stability throughout the years proved that some people prefer coffee instead. We are left with two future outcomes: Will Books-A-Million suffer the same fate as the mall? Or would the bookstore branch off into its own building and continue to thrive in Selinsgrove?

 

 

Sources  

Books:

  • Miller, Laura J. Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Web Sources and Periodicals: 

  • Cresswell, Tim. Place: An Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell, 2015.
  • mmoore@dailyitem.com, Marcia Moore. “Fall Start for Health Center Conversion at Former Sears Building.” The Daily Item, 29 Aug. 2018, www.dailyitem.com/news/local_news/fall-start-for-health-center-conversion-at-former-sears-building/article_ddaddc41-bfca-5b40-aba9-1c7f788a6f79.html.
  • Moore, Marcia. “UPDATE Boscov’s CEO: ‘We’re Not Going Anywhere’.” The Daily Item, 6 May 2019, www.dailyitem.com/news/update-boscov-s-ceo-we-re-not-going-anywhere/article_a6c18276-7011-11e9-a6af-c30fc4f8675f.html.
  • Perry, Jack, “Bibliophilia: Bookstores, Communist and Capitalist.” The American Scholar, vol. 55, no. 1, 1986, pp.107-111. www.jstor.org/stable/41211294.
  • “PRIZM® PREMIER Psycographic Zip Code Lookup.” Claritas, 2019. claritas360.claritas.com/mybestsegments/#zipLookup.
  • Suburbanstats.org. “Current Selinsgrove Borough, Pennsylvania Population, Demographics and Stats in 2019, 2018.” SuburbanStats.org, suburbanstats.org/population/pennsylvania/how-many-people-live-in-selinsgrove-borough.

Media: 

  • Google Maps: Susquehanna Valley Mall & surrounding attractions.
  • Timeline: The History of Books-A-Million in the Susquehanna Valley Mall
  • ThingLink: Books-A-Million Floorplan
  • Books-A-Million Logo: http://www.greentreemall.com/store/booksamillion
  • Susquehanna Valley Mall Image: http://www.wkok.com/susquehanna-valley-mall-could-be-heading-for-sheriffs-sale/
  • All other photos taken by Benjamin Adelberg and Sarah Fluke

Marketing Your Collection: Journeys through Books-A-Million

The bookshelves on the sales floor of our Books-A-Million are short and low, running back toward the end of the store and giving the perception of rows upon rows of books.

We know, of course, from our research, that this is one of the smallest Books-A-Million stores in the country, (about 85 x 42 feet) but that doesn’t stop them from creating the illusion of space, with five-foot tall shelves that seem to stretch much further than the shop would allow. Laura Miller, in Reluctant Capitalists, describes this movement in bookstore architecture, discussing the “bright colors, contemporary materials for shelving and counters, bold, signage, and good lighting.” (92) She goes on to explain that “aisles were wide and shelves were low to create an open, uncluttered feel.” (92) So maybe there’s a method to this odd arrangement, but it still feels a little magical, even in a chain store. Bookstores always seem to look bigger on the inside.

The short shelves serve another purpose as well. Along with allowing me to find my boyfriend when he’s fully engulfed by the shelves around the corner, the short shelves Let you see the rest of the store from any standing spot, as long as you are tall enough. There should be a “You Must Be This Tall For Our Psychological Marketing Techniques To Work On You” sign at the door. At 5’6” I can stand in the Science Fiction section and read the signs lining the top of every other bookcase in the store, as well as turning to see the section markers on the taller shelves that line the perimeter of the room. This means that while I may be sidetracked by the board games in the store window or a brand new cookbook by my favorite chef, I can always see every genre the store has to offer, enticing me over to new sections where a face-out book might catch my eye. This was purposeful in the design, allowing customers to avoid asking for help.

The placement of the genres is purposeful too, handed down a corporate ladder by someone who has probably never seen this particular store.

It is an odd kind of collection, the corporate bookstore. In his essay “On Collecting Art and Culture,” James Clifford asks “What criteria validate an authentic cultural or artistic product? What are the differential values placed on old and new creations? What moral and political criteria justify ‘good,’ responsible, systematic collecting practices?” (221) In the case of Books-A-Million, it’s an algorithm. Sure, if a customer wants a particular book they can order it to the store or to their house, so there is some influencing the algorithm, but that is all it is. The algorithm has a little help from the ideals of the people in charge, hence the oddly large number of shelves dedicated to bibles and Christian living in every Books-A-Million branch, but generally the collection of books at BAM is a collection of what sells. And it is a collection of what sells, expertly manipulated for optimal marketing. Kids have to go all the way to the back of the store for children’s books, past every conceivable endcap and stack of toys or books right at eye level. Sci-Fi and Fantasy are holed up in the back near the Children’s books with a romance buffer between the lesser genres and the highbrow fiction that no literary purist would dare cross. In “Unpacking My Bookstore,” Walter Benjamin asserts that “there is no living library that does not harbor a number of booklike creations from fringe areas.” (66) However, I think even Benjamin would be shocked at how little of the bookstore real estate is taken up by books. The shelves in the store, which has 12- or 14-foot ceilings, cover less than half of the vertical space, and the main selling point seems to be anything other than the books. At last years BookExpo America in New York, the entire back of the showroom floor was dedicated to things you could sell in your bookstore other than books. The theory is that those things bring in more money. After all, who goes into a bookstore for books anymore?

Follow the shopping carts from the back of the store for a glimpse at what this fascinating power of algorithmic collecting and marketing can do.

 

Sources:

Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations. Mariner Books, 2018.

Clifford, James. “On Collecting Art and Culture.” The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth- Century Ethnography, Literature, and Art, pp. 215-251. Harvard University Press, 1988.

Miller, Laura. Reluctant Capitalists. University of Chicago Press, 2007.

The Great BAM!

I believe that the Books-A-Million at the Susquehanna Valley Mall in Selinsgrove PA, doesn’t really have a specific direction to go thought. Most book stores are made to draw you to a specific point in the store or to take a certain path around so that you shop the most. I believe that this store is organized in many different, smaller paths.  But before we can get into the different ways to go about the store, we have to first look outside the store itself.  Often times in the center of the mall, just outside the doors, are a bunch of tables that contain various different books. Sometimes it is a featured genre, and others it is just a sale  I believe that they may even do used book sales there at some points, but I may be mistaken.  In both windows you can see individual on one side, there is a whole Harry Potter display, while on the other is a display aimed towards parents of young children.

Now let’s look into the store. The first thing to catch my eye is the gaint “Kids” sign in the back of the store. If you are a teenager or college kid, this os probamy not what you’re looking for. If you are one however, and you are just browsing around looking for nothing specific, you will most likely go straight to the board game section just to the left of the enterance.  When browsing through this section it is really just random as to what you’ll find. With the rerelease of Bakugan, the store has begin to sell them. They also have many different themes of game. There is a Legend of Zelda section, with clue, Monopoly, and other games in the theme. Then there are the sections by game with themes within them. There is a section of Munchin packs, to include marvel and DC, and a section of Codenames with more themes.

Continuing on in this direction we find the manga section. This is a large section that contains many of the most popular manga. Many youth read these, so it makes the most sense to have this section directly next to the games. Behind this, is the manga counterpart, the comics. The comic section features mostly Marvel, with some smaller articles mixed in. Alongside the comics are the Role Playing Games. RPGs are a game that used to be very popular before technology became a part of every day life, but fortunately has started to regrow into an amazing amount of players. The most popular of these games are Magic the Gathering, and Dungeons & Dragons. I don’t really know anything about Magic, but I definetly know D&D. At Susquehanna University I can think of at least 5 different groups of people who play it on a very regular basis, and I am in 3 of them.

Our next stop on the Teen to College tour is the young adult section. This is just beyond comics and RPGs, and contains many of the books that are sought after by high school students. These books include, but are not limited to, The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Harry Potter.  This section is also accompanied by a small fiction section. I use the word “small” very lightly here because it is a fairly substantial amount if it’s the first thing you see, but there is also a much larger section across the store. Why are they separated? I have no idea.   This is really the end of our exploring student journey, other than going to the other side of the store and looking at all the random little pillars that have various card games and trinkets on them, and then going to the other fiction section across the way.

Looking at the map, there are two more main paths we can take, although they are sort of connected in that they are both parents and young kids. If you are a brand new parent, or expecting, then the back left is the corner for you. This section has parenting books, books for babies, and books for very young children. Along with these books are little games that help to educate your younglings and make them the best minions, I mean, children you could ask for.  In the other corner are books for older children who are learning how to read and trying to advance their reading skills.  This section slowly tansitions towards the front of the store into the other, much larger fiction section. This is where the younger kids can get all the books they really want, like the Warrior series, and the Bunnicula books.  This is also where older children can find their books that aren’t in the “young adult” section.

In the center of the room are 2 large support pillars. As any good store would do, they turned these into fancy little displays for all their larger, more popular card game like cards against humanity.  Around the cash register you can typically find some little chocolates, which are always placed in just the right places that you have to stare at them while you are waiting to, and actually checking out of the store. So inticing to just buy one, or a dozen.

There are 2 more large stops in this store, but large only in their size. The Newsstand, and the New Releases. These are both located on the walls, just inside the store. The Newsstand is on the right, and the New Releases section is on the left. Around the walls of the store are other little sections that you can see on the map above. I think this is all there really is to the store. In my opinion, unless you ar going in their looking for one specific thing, then it is really just wandering strainght into the game section.

Photos by: Ben Adelberg

A Million Books for Millions of Readers: Books-A-Million and their Collection of Literature

According to Peter N. Miller, historian and Dean Professor at Bard College, collection is more than just an ordinary past-time or desire of the materialistic consumer; collection represents more than just owning every version of an object, even the rare ones, and displaying them for all to see. Collection, and the act of collecting, is a behavior that brings a sense of purpose and identity to an object and its owner, (How Objects). How this could possibly relate to a Books-A-Million; specifically one that sits in a dying shopping mall in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania; is even more complicated than the idea of collection itself. Books-A-Million, although it looks like every other chain from the outside, provides a collection of literature inside meant to open doors to any reader in the Susquehanna Valley. From children’s books, to classic literature, to bestsellers, Books-A-Million hopes to find a happy medium between the aesthetic bookstore and the department store through its collection.

In order to understand Books-A-Million’s collection, we must first dive into the store itself. Below is an interactive floor-plan that displays all of the available genres of literature in this BAM! and how they are placed throughout the store. Take some time to hover over each of the icons, which provide a virtual walk-through of the store.

 

After taking some time to venture through the aisles of diverse literature this Books-A-Million has to offer, it may appear overwhelming to the average book-buying consumer. Books stretch across every square-inch of the store, some even spilling out into the hallway of the mall during certain times of the year. Considering the way that these book genres are arranged; for example, cookbooks finding a place right by children’s storybooks and across the way from fantasy novels; it may even seem impossible to find that one book desired among thousands. Perhaps there is a method behind this madness?

Try to view this store through the lens of the consumer. Books-A-Million may appear to have too large of a collection, but this could be beneficial depending on what one is looking for. For the Standard Consumer, which Laura J. Miller in her book describes as the consumer seeking convenience and comfort in their shopping experience, this bookstore is a great place to find the kind of books the general population may be looking for, (Reluctant Capitalists). Selling literature that may be found useful in day-to-day life; such as cookbooks, study guides, self-help books, and more; the consumer looking for efficiency and ease in their experience can come to Books-A-Million and get exactly what they’re looking for. Not only that, but any books unattainable in store can be easily found online through their website. 

For one that wants that aesthetic bookstore experience, the Entertained Consumer, Books-A-Million strives to improve the way it presents their store so one may feel welcome to come and stay a while, (Reluctant Capitalists). Although this particular Books-A-Million doesn’t have the room to provide a sitting area or a café like other chains, they make sure to lure in the book adventurer through their assortment of genres. Books-A-Million’s variety of literature gives readers that fall into a niche a chance to find something new, and vice versa: for within these broad genres lies a sort of specificity. 

Unlike the independent bookstore, which may be more limited in what it stocks due to the personal preference of its owner or limited resources, Books-A-Million and the power of the corporate chain allow for, truly, a million books for millions of readers. The convenient system of the store caters to those that aren’t into spending hours in a bookstore, while the collection of diverse literature caters to those who want an immersive experience. Books-A-Million, like many other retail chains of its kind, wants to be the home for any and all readers. Its collection ranges from beginner novels to prestigious classic works, presenting itself to a huge market. Although Books-A-Million isn’t the end-all-be-all of bookstores, it is a starting point and valuable resource for anyone hoping to get their hands on the novel they’ve been looking for.  

 

Sources

Nonperiodicals

Miller, Laura J. Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption. The University of Chicago, 2006. Print.

Audiovisual

The Absolute. Woman shopping in a bookstore. Digital file. http://theabsolutemag.com/6461/books/indiebound-uniting-local-independent-bookstores-with-loyal-customers-one-shopper-at-a-time/

Fluke, Sarah. Aisles of books in Books-A-Million, Selinsgrove, PA. Digital file, 2019.

Web sites, e-sources

Miller, Peter N. “How Objects Speak.” The Chronicle Review, 11 Aug. 2014. Accessed 27 Mar. 2019.

Interactive Image courtesy of ThingLink. All photos tagged within the Interactive Image were also taken by Sarah Fluke. 

Books-(And Other Things)-A-Million

As with most stores, the layout of the store isn’t just something that makes it easier to navigate or to make the store look appealing enough to venture into. The layout usually has some deeper meaning or ulterior motive that sucks the customers into it without their knowing, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it accomplishes the store’s goal of making money from their generally large collection of this and that.

With Books-A-Million, they do just that. Immediately upon entering the store there is a very unnoticeable force that gently pushes you to the front left side of the store where conveniently placed are odds and ends of your favorite movies, books, comics, etc. and I will refer to these unique purchases as merchandise (merch on the layout). Along the left wall once you walk past the book themed board games, you also find the best sellers with their attractive covers facing front for all to see as you reach the corner of the store and find yourself lost in the titles, curiously checking for names you know and things you don’t, possibly finding a new book for yourself that you didn’t know you wanted.

As you walk along the left wall, you venture into categories such as how to books for those who would like to have a guide or for those curious to learn a new skill, and to the right of you will be the comics, manga, and young adult books for you to peruse so after reading your new how to book you have a book or two to read in your down time. Right off the bat, the lower left corner of the store has some of the most important books in the store, the educational books, the popular good reads, and the ones that appeal to individuals based on their interests alone.

Upon reaching the back-left section of the store things get a little overwhelming with the amalgamation of reference books, various tables of more fiction and young adult, and unique but slightly unsettling works of history that you didn’t know existed. Finding yourself in such a section you’ll be seeing what crazy history conspiracies you can find along the shelves or browsing the reference books to see what other authors or work contain topics that interest you and where to find them. Another section in this area of the store is the very corner containing the baby books and parenting books. Why so far away? Well, once you find a book to read in your personal time, a book to learn a new skill, and maybe a book for a friend, you’ll have made it to what you were looking for, a book on what to expect while pregnant, and even the child’s first book once they are old enough to read. Leaving the first half of the store so to speak, you’re already carrying three or more books possibly when all you wanted was a leisurely read.

As your curiosity gets the better of you and you stroll into the back right of the store, you’ll find a large selection of works for young kids and teenagers along the walls with a mixture of various merchandise that are from major game franchises or popular book series that ‘every” child has read. Once again you may find yourself picking up a book for a friend or for someone’s child in hopes that they will enjoy it. Already at four or more books, you venture into the last section of the store, the middle right-ish area where the adult fiction, poetry, and philosophical books await a wandering soul to enlighten with their words. After you’ve accidentally found a book for everyone in the family besides yourself possibly, it’s your time to unwind and browse the works of the enlightened, along with every erotic fiction book you’ve never heard of. By the time you leave the final section of books, you find yourself approaching the counter to finalize your purchase of five or more books.

Before you can spend more money than you intended to, you must first navigate the “Pillars of Merchandise” that slow your journey’s progress. These columns of trinkets and other cute or cool items sole purpose is to attract your eye and convince you to spend even more. Finally, you reach the counter and you’re ready to buy your five books, five individualized bookmarks, two magnets for your fridge at home or college, and a cool new key-chain to put on your backpack or keys so everyone can see it next time you’re out and about.

 

Now to discuss this huge collection of books and items that Books-A-Million has obtained is sort of complicated. Overall, the collection they have is not personal as we like to think collections are, such as someone’s stamp collection or anything else they have sweated over to accumulate. BAM has a collection that is meant to be dwindled and sold, one that is meant to be turned into someone else’s collection of pride and joy, something that reflects who they are. In the words of Walter Benjamin, “ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them.” (Benjamin, 67). This large expanse of books and merchandise does in fact reflect who BAM is, which is a store that thrives of the capitalist ways of the country, that’s just how business works. Benjamin also states that “The acquisition of books is by no means a matter of money or expert knowledge alone. Not even both factors together suffice for the establishment of a real library, which is always somewhat impenetrable and at the same time uniquely itself.” (Benjamin, 63).

The only thing lacking from this assortment is the personal touch that a collection emanates just from looking at it. If someone has spent years collecting every quarter for every state, for each year a new one was issued, just hearing of such a feat would induce an amount of respect for them, as they put blood, sweat, and tears into such a thing that they find near and dear to them. “The phenomenon of collecting loses its meaning as it loses its personal owner.” (Benjamin, 67). Upon walking into BAM, you just get the sense that they are trying to stock something for everyone in order to make a living, there is nothing personal about a chain book store, yet it has its own identity because of that along with how it presents itself to the public.

Overall, Books-A-Million is a place with a collection of its own that holds no personal value, a hallowed collection if one will. It has a collection that does not define itself, but one that is meant to be available to the public for those individuals to build their own collection and to shape their own experiences with these books and the experience of shopping in this store. While this store has little to no personality since it is a chain store and has standards to follow, the one common goal they all have in mind with what they sell is for individuals to expand their collection and to enjoy doing it.

 

Sources:

Text:

Benjamin, Walter. Illuminations. Schocken Books.

 

Photos:

Layout courtesy of basic Microsoft Paint skills

Facebook for the logo

 

Annotations for picture:

https://www.thinglink.com/

Books-A-Million: A Temporary Moment

When I’d first encountered Books-A-Million at the Susquehanna Valley Mall, I’d have to say the experience lacked any memorable qualities that personally spoke to me. As someone who grew up around independent bookstores, I couldn’t shake the feeling that a corporate bookstore was more of a temporary space. For the everyday consumer, a temporary space may not have an effect on what is sold in a store. But for an avid book lover, the bookstore itself entices, connects, and creates the type of audience that are drawn to the space.

For Books-A-Million, their audience appears to be a combination of consumers, book lovers, temporary fandoms, and deal-seekers. The bookstore uses a well-organized, strategic floor plan to herd their audience into the store. (See the floor plan shown below.)

Floor plan of Books-A-Million in the Susquehanna Valley Mall.
Note: Picture not drawn to scale. Green circle is the entrance.

The location of Books-A-Million is strategic in and of itself. The bookstore is located a short distance from Auntie Anne’s and a Cinnabon, two food sources that have food and beverages to- go so people can walk around and browse. Books-A-Million has large windows on either side of their entrance to showcase all of their colorful “special products” inside. While stores in the mall usually have large windows, it nonetheless still adds to the bookstore’s toy-box-like charm.

For those who wander by, they’ll peek through the windows and notice an assortment of items: large stuffed animals nestled close to the glass (“casually” placed in front of the New Arrivals section), a huge Harry Potter section that consists of wizard wands, character Funko POPS! and, of course, the book series (but with their new redone covers). On the right side, slightly adjacent from the magazines, are the Easter decorations that show the bookstore keeps up with the holidays as well as the trends.

As someone who doesn’t care about the trends of today, I felt thrown off at how “in the moment” the sneak preview of the store had been. Other than childhood nostalgia, there doesn’t seem to be a connection to the past like that of an independent bookstore. In Unpacking My Library: A Talk about Book Collecting, Walter Benjamin discussed the idea of ownership as magic because it’s a connection with the past (60-61). There is nothing wrong with being in the moment, but can we really learn or enhance our experiences if we lose that connection with the past?

The two end and middle isles were pretty slim. A smart strategy to get consumers to turn around and look so they avoid hitting anything. 

I pondered this question as I stood at the entrance. I’m greeted with the Last Chance book rack, which is positioned to be half-in and out of the store. Like a magnet, my eyes are drawn to the inside of the store by the medium-sized 20% off political, young adult, and horror novels. I couldn’t help but cringe at the little discount stickers that stuck to the covers. There seemed to be no thought into how hard it can be to remove a sticker from a paperback cover without damage to the book.

As I turned to exit, the shine of the Funko POP! cardboard and game containers reflected on my glasses. As I past through the slim isle, I found myself before the New Arrival section. The end of the new arrivals and New York Times Best Sellers aligned with the end of the Manga section. I continued straight through the Young Adult, where the covers began to look the same. A few steps away was the Nonfiction section.

One-third of the first Nonfiction shelf had contained Christian-Living. (There is an image of the shelf on the floor plan.) I thought about the connection between the past and the present. With such a small nonfiction section it seemed like Books-A-Million wasn’t interested in anything to do with the lives of people. However, their World History and Sports section begged to differ. Books-A-Million did kind of care about the past, but only if it pertained to the more well-known occurrences (i.e., the World Wars, Trump presidency, famous football players, etc.). Rather than embrace the past, the bookstore boxed the past in between Young Adult fiction, Adult Romances, Parenting, and young children; all things that pertain to things accustomed to “the now” or to the future.

In my eyes, Books-A-Million does follow the stereotypical chain bookstore idea: follow the trends of today and the future. As I stood before the Parenting and Baby’s First Books section, with the past literally behind me, I couldn’t help the feeling of being temporary, like every Young Adult novel that would soon be rotated out for a newer, similar Young Adult novel.

The slim spaces between the shelves helps herd costumers in a particular direction.

Yet I continued towards the toys and Children’s section, which covered the large L-shaped portion of the bookshelves on the right until the Mystery section began.

Ironically, the Adult Romances were placed near the Children’s section. I thought the placement was both fitting and alarming. Fitting, because in some cases the content of the adult romance may lead to actions that lead to parenting. Alarming, because I wouldn’t want my young children to pick a random book off the shelf that may lead to answering uncomfortable questions in the bookstore.

Finally, we’ve reached the checkout. The position of the cash register is perfect for an eagle eyed view of all the “important” components a corporate mind might care about: the entrance, the last chance sales rack, smaller accessories, such as gift cards and little children’s toys, and the staff picks. Since a chain bookstore wants cashiers, someone should always be present to discuss their choice pick. Just as you go to leave, to the right of the cashier, there is a magazine section for people who enjoy magazines or those who have to wait.

As I left Books-A-Million, I felt like I was leaving just a plain store. The design of the store ushered me to the left until I came full circle. The books seemed like mere objects, products, rather than something people may view as sacred.

In Reluctant Capitalists, Laura Miller discusses the idea of books being “beyond products”, that it is us, the individual, that makes the book a sacred object because of our attachment to it (21). But I’d argue that the atmosphere a bookstore holds can impact how an individual views the book.

Like Books-A-Million, if a book is disregarded as a simple object and put in a store that feels like every other store, then that feeling will present itself to the costumer and influence their perception of the book. The vibrant lights and colors of a bookstore may work to draw people in, but if there isn’t a strong vibe or link between the place and the book, then the book will forever be deemed just a temporary object for a place that will never feel like home. If there is nothing to connect the book or place to the past, could it ever be sacred or a home?

Sources

Text

Benjamin, Walter. Unpacking My Library: A Talk About Book Collecting. Schocken Books, 1931.

Miller, Laura J. Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Images

Courtesy of Starr Cole

Floor plan created at Thinglink

A BAM to the Past

The Susquehanna Valley Mall is a focal point of the Selinsgrove town and surrounding areas. It it where all the college kids from Susquehanna University go when they need anything ranging from clothes, to food, to even appliances and furnature.  One big thing we college kids always seem to need are books, whether text books for school, or class readings, or even just casual reads. This is why there is a decently sized Books-A-Million in this mall. It being the “town center” as it would seem, makes it the prime location for a corporate bookstore.

If we look at the history of the area, this mall used to thrive. It truly was the big heart of the little town. Back when it first opened 1978, the large anchor store was Boscovs, as this was at the location and the mall was built around it, and as the mall opened, a Bon-Ton opened.  10 months after opening, J.C. Penny because another anchor store for the mall, making it even more of a popular places for people of all ages to hang out and get to know eachother.

This mall has been a place for more than just the resindents of Susquehanna University. Yes, a large population of the consumers at this mall are college students, you don’t really have to think about why, there is an Aunty Annes, nothing more needs to be said about why this attracts college kids.  But why does it attract regular townsfolk?  They can’t ALL be there for the pretzels. (Although we can hope).

This whole sense of a towncenter can be traced back to the beginning of BAM! as a store. This store was started in 1917, the company was founded in a newsstand in Florence, Alabama. The boy who founded it was the 14 year old Clyde B. Anderson. The store really got its foot in the door when Anderson heard workers complain that they couldn’t get their home papers where they were working.  So what did Anderson do? Well he got the papers to sell them to the workers.  Clyde’s little news stand stood where? You guessed it. At the town center for all those workers who just wanted their local news.

So this mall we have here doesn’t seem to be doing so great, even with all the evidence pointing to it surviving and being the best mall in the entire area because it is right across the street from walmart, and has the only movie theater in Selinsgrove. So why isn’t it doing so well? There isn’t really any definite answer, but I think it has to do with the online shopping industry. With the creation of Amazon and EBay, we can buy virtually, and literally anything you could think of.  You want that shirt you saw some guy wearing the other day? Well you can find that online. You want an everything bagel from Panera Bread? Just look online and you will find a Panera Bread just down the street from the mall, but this store delivers to the college campus, so why would you need to go out and get things in person when you can just buy it online and you can just order it online and it will be shipped straight to your doorstep.

What does every good town square have? A fountain.

I believe that people have just become too lazy to go out and get to know each other in town.  If we look at the Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast, the opening song takes place in the center of the town as everyone sings about how strange Belle is. Now, this might not be the best example to just look at on the surface because they are being mean and making fun of her, but if we look deeper into it, she is very happy with all the people there and seems to get along with them all. She doesn’t see what their doing as being something mean, but just playful banter. And if we look at it, she is friends with all the people in the town. As she’s walking through, the baker and his wife give her some bread and they are happy to see her, and the bookseller talks to her about a book that she loves to read and has read over and over again. He then decides to let her keep it. This shows their sense of friendship and comraderey. As soon as Belle is past the people, they talk about how weird and strange she is, even though they all are happy to see her.

This whole song shows a sense of place that you can find in a quaint little town center. Another sense of place we see here is the bookstore. Well, more specifically the book seller. He has a personal connection with Belle because he visited him every day and would talk to him about the books she was reading. After she borrowed the same book enough times, he let her keep it.

This shows a strong sense of community. Unfortunately, this is not the reality of a corporate bookstore like BAM!  Even if it was still this little bookstore called Bookland like it was so long ago when it first became a corporation in 1964. This happened when Clyde’s son, Charles, inherited the bookstore and turned it into a chain when he opened more stores.  In 1988, the store aquired the Gateway Books chain based out of Knoxville Tennessee, thus expanding their chain even more.  This puts their stores in even more locations and towns.

So why are they failing? My theory is that it is because they took all the locations where Borders was when they closed down. I can see both sides of this. Borders closed, so then there was all that “prime real estate” for a bookseller because that’s where everyone went to buy their books, so since people dont like change, they will continue to go to that same place no matter what store is in it. The problem I see is that Borders closed down for a reason. That reason is bankruptcy, so to me the idea of buying all the locations of a store that closed down seems like a bad idea because the first store went bankrupt, so since you are in the exact same spaces, you will too.

The stock of BAM! Is about $3. Now I’m not expert in the stock market, but I’m pretty sure that you want a higher price for you stock. When the stock of BAM! Spiked back in 1998 up to $47, it was a big deal, but then it dropped back down to the $3 that it started at, just this second time the $3 is worth much less than in 1980.

A People’s History of the Selinsgrove Books-A-Million

Despite the incessant apocalyptic proclamations about the future of bookselling, all the reports are saying that book sales were up 2.5% in 2018 from the previous year. This is good news for bookstores, but seems unlikely that a tiny Books-A-Million in Selinsgrove, PA would be making its sales quota.

However, bookstores, especially BAMs, aren’t what they once were. When Books-A-Million was founded in 1917, it was a street corner newsstand in Florence, Alabama. Bookselling was an ever-growing business. Now, as Jack Perry would say, Books-A-Million chain shops are “Up-to-date, efficient bookselling stores. […] But oh, how cold it is! How unconducive to browsing! ” (Perry 109) And these bookselling stores are making less and less revenue each year as online retailers expand further and further into their territory.

Perry’s concern with chain bookstores like BAM, Barnes & Noble, and Borders’ before them, is that they homogenize the books available to the public. “We may go into the same book-marketing establishments, in millions of malls, and find the same sections, the same computer cards, the same crazy logic, the same best-seller-list counter, the same books–the same absence of individuality.” (Perry 110) And that is, to some extent, what you feel when you walk into our Selinsgrove Books-A-Million. You could be in a BAM anywhere in the country.

However, BAM isn’t the only one to blame for this. Barnes & Noble, Borders, Amazon Bookstores, and college book stores like Follett are also guilty. All these chain bookstores use similar tactics that Laura Miller describes in Reluctant Capitalists “Small stores in shopping centers or malls that emphasized popular titles, minimal service, and heavily advertised discounts.” (Miller 49) I tend to agree more with Perry when he says that “somehow the little yellow stickers, noting that this Shakespeare is ‘15% off list price,’ or that this Emily Dickinson is on ‘double discount,’ offend me.” (Perry 109) Still, offence or no, this bookstore model has been working in the US, and working well. The first branded “Books-A-Million” was opened in 1988, which marked its expansion into the superstore format, the beginning of that absence of individuality.

Our Books-A-Million here in Selinsgrove is special, or at least we would like to think. It moved into the mall in November of 2011 with a wave of nine other BAM locations in former Borders stores. Before Books-A-Million took over, space A12 in the mall belonged to a Waldenbooks, a subsect of the Borders corporation. At that time, the Susquehanna Valley Mall was bustling with shops like J.C. Penney, Gap, Sears, Bon-Ton, and RadioShack, all of which have closed in the last four years (Wikipedia, 2018). The mall, which was opened in 1978, has been on a decline in recent years and has a hard time keeping stores open.

Why, then, does our Books-A-Million persist? It’s hard to say. Despite competition from Amazon and other online retailers, there is still a portion of the population that likes to look for books in person, and Books-A-Million is the only chain bookstore in the area, and it’s one of the only stores that sells new books in this part of the Valley. The very tactics that Perry and Miller eschew might be what is saving it. Nearby bookstores like DJ Earnst, founded even before the Mall in 1975, sell only used books, so despite the chain appearance, the Selinsgrove BAM has carved itself out a niche.

Our timeline here shows the progression of Books-A-Million as a company and of space A12 in the Susquehanna Valley Mall as they converge upon each other. BAM events are in blue, SVM events are in green, and events of competing bookstores are in purple.

Today, Books-A-Million operates more than 260 stores throughout the country. Our little BAM is one of the smallest in the country at 4,528 square feet. Those feet are packed with books, though, and even if they’re organized by the “crazy logic” that Perry described in his first run-in with commercial bookstores, they seem to sell pretty well. Or maybe it’s simply that other BAM locations are doing so well. Books-A-Million’s website sales make up 8% of the online book market (that is, buying physical books online) compared to Amazon’s 81% and Barnes & Noble’s 28%, but 8% of a $3.1 billion industry is nothing to be scoffed at, and that’s just the online sales. (Author Earnings, 2017)

I don’t know if the national success of the Books-A-Million company is what is keeping our little outpost afloat or if this tiny store is somehow running a profit as rent for mall space plummets, but either way, I hope we continue to have it for a while yet. After bankruptcy, replacement, struggles, and victories, the bookstore that still stands in our failing mall is a sign of hope for the future.

Sources:

Web

Gale, Thompson. “Books-A-Million, Inc.” The Columbia Encyclopedia,6th Ed, Encyclopedia.com, 2006,

     www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/economic-business-and-labor/businesses-and-occupations/books-million-

     inc.

“January 2018 Report: US Online Book Sales, Q2-Q4 2017.” Author Earnings, 22 Jan. 2017,

     www.authorearnings.com/report/january-2018-report-us-online-book-sales-q2-q4-2017/.

Statista Survey. “Where Do You Purchase Print Books While Shopping Online?.” Statista – The

     Statistics Portal, Statista, Apr. 2017, www.statista.com/statistics/706105/online-shopping-for-print-books/

“Susquehanna Valley Mall.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Dec. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susquehanna_Valley_Mall.

Text

Miller, Laura J. Reluctant Capitalists: Bookselling and the Culture of Consumption. University of Chicago Press, 2014

Perry, Jack, “Bibliophilia: Bookstores, Communist and Capitalist.” The American Scholar, vol. 55, no. 1, 1986, pp.107-111., 

     www.jstor.org/stable/41211294.

Saving Grace: Books-A-Million as a New Anchor for the Susquehanna Valley Mall

The life and culture that Books-A-Million provides appears uncharacteristic for the mall in which it resides. While other vendors in the Susquehanna Valley Mall of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania seem to host few enthusiastic customers or sit vacant all together, this Books-A-Million stands out with its huge displays of literature and merchandise. Older folks wander its aisles and take a liking to the more classical selections it houses, while teens and young adults peruse the lines of comic book, movie, and novella merchandise in hopes of finding some sort of memorabilia for their favorite stories. People of all ages, backgrounds, and interests are drawn into the Books-A-Million because of all it has to offer to ordinary mall patrons and book fanatics alike: giving the slowly declining Susquehanna Valley Mall a hopeful light… but has it always been this way? How did this Books-A-Million become a sort of saving grace for this Central Pennsylvania shopping mall?  

 

(powered by Time Graphics)

In order to see the true importance of this Books-A-Million, we must first understand the nature of the place in which it resides. The Susquehanna Valley Mall was opened in 1978, anchored by a Boscov’s that still operates in the establishment today. The Boscov’s bustled with business, giving perfect leverage for a shopping mall to enter the same area. The mall attracted business with two main anchors, Boscov’s and Bon-Ton, and 400,000 square-feet of retail vendors and food destinations. 20 years later, the mall expanded to include J.C. Penney’s and Sears as two more anchors and other stores full of commercial diversity. This mall was the biggest commercial success the Susquehanna Valley had ever seen, and thrived as such for almost another 15 years after this expansion (Revolvy). 

A place for booklovers in the Susquehanna Valley Mall didn’t come about until the mall’s expansion, however; a Borders opened its doors around the early 2000’s. The mall’s expansion allowed more of a diverse selection of vendors, making a perfect destination for a chain bookstore such as Borders to plant its roots (Purscell).  Borders, a national bookstore chain that expanded from Waldenbooks in the early 1970’s, moved into the Susquehanna Valley Mall around 1998-2000 and operated in exactly the same spot that the Books-A-Million sits today. Borders, due to its similar structure to the Books-A-Million chain, served almost the same purpose of providing a diverse source of entertainment and literature for the greater Susqueha-

The main entrance of the Susquehanna Valley Mall

nna Valley area. Although there is little information I can find about the success of this particular Borders chain in the Susquehanna Valley Mall, it is quite obvious that its ending did not come about in as positive of a light as its beginnings.  

The Borders of the Susquehanna Valley Mall, and all other Borders chains in the United States, closed their doors due to bankruptcy in early 2011, leaving readers with no home in this quaint shopping mall. Unfortunately, the entirety of the Susquehanna Valley Mall was heading in the same direction just a short time after. By 2015, the Susquehanna Valley Mall had hit an economic downturn it had never experienced before. The major anchors of the mall, such as Sears and Bon-Ton, closed their doors and took with them much of the mall’s business. Not only that, but smaller retailers failed to keep their doors open due to a lessened influx of customers, leaving a large amount of vacancy in the heart of the mall. To this day, the mall still suffers and holds about 25 vacant spaces unable to be filled by promising retailers.  

News coverage on the rapid downfall of the Susquehanna Valley Mall and other Central Pennsylvania shopping malls.

Anchors Away: The Downfall of Central Pennsylvania Malls 

Considering the economic turmoil of this quaint shopping mall, its hard to imagine having such a successful book retailer operating behind its doors. While over half of the vendors sit untouched by consumers and others slowly lose stability, Books-A-Million continues to provide for the greater Susquehanna Valley’s literary community. To me, it seems as if the deterioration of its neighbors aided in its own success.  

The Books-A-Million in the Susquehanna Valley Mall opened on October 28th, 2011, just a few short months after the Borders closed its doors. The announcement of a new book and entertainment hub in the mall excited loyal customers, for the vacancy of the Borders was a painful jab to an already vulnerable commercial area; customers who had begun to lose hope by the emptying of valuable businesses in the mall now had a worthwhile reason to return (Book Store Opens). Although there is little allusion as to why this Books-A-Million was chosen to replace the Borders that came before it, the fact that it did alone has brought a positive light to this dying shopping mall.  

The storefront of the Books-A-Million of the Susquehanna Valley Mall, courtesy of their Facebook Page.

I do have to admit that when visiting this Books-A-Million in the middle of a Friday afternoon, I saw few unique factors that would have made the store shine the way it does. Having grown up outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which offers hundreds of similar chain retailers to those that are offered in the greater Susquehanna Valley, I walked into this Books-A-Million and saw an identical store to the Books-A-Million I went to back home. It’s eye-catching displays, wide selection of novels, and aesthetically pleasing stationary were all things I had seen before, and I dismissed them from being unique or worthy of my attention immediately. It wasn’t until I did a bit of online snooping that the significance of this little chain became clear to me.  

This Books-A-Million is not just your ordinary bookstore; it’s a beating heart of culture and literary engagement in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Not only does this Books-A-Million provide classic and popular literature for its patrons, but it also hosts engaging activities for young readers, features worthwhile items that it wants its customers to investigate, hosts family-friendly events, and even has had a few authors come in to talk about their work. Books-A-Million runs a Facebook page that advertises these exciting opportunities for literary exploration, so that booklovers are informed and can communicate with one another about different aspects of the store. It was through this social media platform that I was finally able to observe the kind of cultural landmark this Books-A-Million creates for the greater Susquehanna Valley. Not only is this Books-A-Million a place for the reader, but it’s a place for family and community.  

Books-A-Million is not just a simple bookstore that mall patrons pass by on their way to their favorite clothing retailer or the Cinnabon down the hall: it is a locale for every type of booklover. Tim Cresswell, human geographer and scholar, says that place is not just a simple location on a map, but a “way of seeing, knowing, and understanding the world,” (Place: A Short). Books-A-Million is a place for every type of reader, regardless of background or identity, to fall in love with literature and understand its importance. It opens its doors to the greater Susquehanna Valley in ways that promote community, exploration, entertainment, and creativity for all people. Although you may enter this Books-A-Million and see it as just a place to pick up the book you’ve been dying to read, or even just another ordinary vendor in a shabby shopping mall, it has the potential to be so much more and has proven itself as such so far. Books-A-Million is that not-so-conventional bookstore that communities such as the greater Susquehanna Valley need in order to keep literature alive.  

 

Sources:

Nonperiodicals

Cresswell, Tim. Place: A Short Introduction.

Images

Books-A-Million. Books-A-Million Storefront. Facebook, www.facebook.com/Books-A-Million-386640151734113/. Accessed 1 Mar. 2019.

News Radio 1070 WKOK. Susquehanna Valley Mall. 6 Feb. 2019. News Radio 1070, www.wkok.com/susquehanna-valley-mall-not-being-sold/. Accessed 1 Mar. 2019.

WNEP News Station. Anchors Away. Digital file.

Web sites, e-sources

Book Store Opens Friday. The Daily Item, 26 Oct. 2011, www.dailyitem.com/b-briefs/article_f80cf1c9-116d-5a41-8e77-566c52e5c0ef.html. Accessed 1 Mar. 2019.

Purscell, Tricia. “Susquehanna Valley Mall: Under One Roof for 30 Years.” The Daily Item, 22 Nov. 2008, archive.fo/20140204020957/http://www.dailyitem.com/0100_news/x691306146/Susquehanna-Valley-Mall-Under-one-roof-for-30-years. Accessed 1 Mar. 2019.

Revolvy. “Susquehanna Valley Mall.” Revolvy, www.revolvy.com/page/Susquehanna-Valley-Mall?stype=folders. Accessed 1 Mar. 2019.

WNEP News Station. “Shoppers Concerned as Anchor Stores Close in Local Malls.” WNEP The News Station, wnep.com/2017/01/05/shoppers-concerned-as-anchor-stores-close-in-local-malls/. Accessed 1 Mar. 2019.

Rearview Memories of BAM

When I have the chance to walk into the Susquehanna Valley Mall, I can’t help but to stop and take a moment to think. During this moment in time I see my past self walk through a crowded mall. I see countless people flooding in and out of bright and exciting stores. As I come back to reality and compare my own historical memories to the reality I am faced with now, I see the opposite. Now I stand almost alone in a mall that feels gloomy and filled with vacant space. Now people walk through as if there is a rush to get into the mall and get back out, because nobody wants to stick around in a place that feels so empty. In reading ‘Defining Place’ by Tim Cresswell, he states, “The museum is an attempt to produce a “place of memory…”(4-5) . In this reading Cresswell further explains what he means by the word place meaning a a mere memory. I can relate to this as the I feel as though the history of this Books-A-Million is my own “place of memory”. Both now and in this distant memory I find myself standing in front of a bookstore. The difference is, as a  child I stand in front of a Walden books. Today I stand in front of Books-A-Million asking myself how it all came to be.

 

The Susquehanna Valley Mall where Books-A-Million is located

Books-A-Million better known as BAM is a corporate chain bookstore that was founded in 1917 by fourteen year old Clyde Anderson. BAM originally made its first appearance in Florence Alabama. The bookstore has grown exponentially as a company in the past one hundred plus years. Today Books-A-Million is a store that many are familiar with and have had the chance to visit. This does not come as a surprise seeing as though the bookstore chain has 260 locations within thirty two states. Because of the amount of stores BAM has, it is the second largest bookstore chain in the United States. When I think about how large of a chain Books-A-Million has grown to be, I cannot help but to think about how hard it is to imagine that one of these 260 stores is located in a small cozy town of Selinsgrove. As I think back to the memories I have of the space BAM now occupies in the Susquehanna Valley Mall, I wonder how such a large chain has stayed in place  in a small town mall that seems to be on the downslide.

Books-A-Million store today

The Susquehanna Valley mall, the current home of the Selinsgrove Books-A-Million opened during the year of 1978. Though Books-A-Million was not one of the original stores that was in this mall, it serves as a window into the past of how Books-A-Million found its home here in 2011. When BAM had taken over the bookstore that preceded it, was not a takeover of stores that came as shocking to consumers. The Books-A-Million chain was beginning to take over many bookstores that were closing during this time. It was also a change that was physically easy seeing as the store that BAM bookstore was taking over was also previously a bookstore. It was almost as if this space within the Susquehanna Valley mall was created to remain a bookstore.

Walking through the Susquehanna Valley mall today I find BAM in the place where I used

Waldenbooks Closes in 2011

to find Waldenbooks. A smaller branch of larger corporate store Borders. I think about how the space has changed. I urge myself to spot differences. But, as my memories become blurry, I fail to spot the differences between a space that was and is home to the two bookstores. To me, Waldenbooks seemed to be a bit more low-key. Though it was also a chain bookstore as opposed to an independent bookstore, I felt there was more of a traditional bookstore feel. You could walk in and see books and feel as though you were in the right place if you were in search for a new read. Though my memories of this store could be changing over time, I feel I could remember the lighting being a little less fluorescent. I also can remember walking into the bookstore and finding primarily an assortment of books. Today you can find that more than half of the bookstore is trinkets and toys. My memory and the history of how BAM came to be, causes me to long for the time where this bookstore was focused on selling books. My memories lead to Waldenbooks because for as long as I can remember, Waldenbooks was seated in a corner spot of our small mall. In 2011 Boarders announced they would be closing their smaller mall chain stores, and later that year in October, Books-A-Million replaced Waldenbooks in the Susquehanna Valley Mall. It has been there ever since despite the closings of countless stores surrounding it. I can’t help but to wonder how it still stands strong among stores that seem to be on the downfall.

In the past it seemed that the mall bookstore was the place to buy books. From the opening of the mall in 1978 until the year of 2011, book buyers were able to come to the same spot in the Selinsgrove mall to buy books. Later in 2011, The bookstore name was changed but its identity of a bookstore remained stable. Luckily this move was not one that would leave a long lasting open space as in the future business closings in the mall. In ‘A Global Sense of Place’, by Tim Cresswell, Cresswell states, “The ‘permanence’ of place is a form of investment and fixity”. (58) I feel that this route from the reading really emphasizes the history of where BAM came from when entering the Susquehanna Valley mall. in other terms, BAM was a good investment when entering the mall because of its “fixity”. The store was previously a bookstore before BAM, it was not a surprise it became a seemingly permanent fixture. There are many reasons this also holds true. Perhaps it is due to the fact that the Susquehanna Valley mall was a meeting point that drew crowds in from each surrounding town. People from towns such as Lewisburg, Danville, Middleburg, and many more could be found at the very mall where the former Waldenbooks and the current Books-A-Million bookstore can be found.

Because of the small nature of our mall and the lack of consumers that visit the Susquehanna mall today, there are not a plethora of chances for our mall to host things such as books signings, guest visits, or other events in its past that make the small store stand out. Books-A-Million as a company puts together many different crowd drawing events that increase sales and consumers. These events are held in Books-A-Million stores that are in more populated areas. So, in the history of our Selinsgrove Area Books-A-Million we have had very few guest author visits and book signings. Growing up and visiting this mall often, I can not recall any personal experiences with Books-A-Million and book signings.

Overall my past experiences with this mall lead to a memory of a bookstore that many may overlook. However, my distant memories are flooded with wonder about how such a thriving corporate bookstore can continue to stay standing in a mall that is withering away store by store year by year. The history of Books-A-Million is one that exudes hope for the future as a company. But as for the BAM store I know and love, I prefer to think about it in my rearview memory: The full and thriving store that people from all surrounding towns come to visit and find the literature they love.

Sources

Timeline:

N.d. Time Graphics. Web. 26 Feb. 2019. <https://time.graphics/line/233654>

Pictures:
Mall Photo -http://www.wkok.com/susquehanna-valley-mall-not-being-sold/
BAM Photo -https://hiveminer.com/Tags/selinsgrove%2Csusquehannavalleymall
Waldenbooks Photo-http://peoriachronicle.com/2010/01/03/waldenbooks-in-peoria-to-close-this-month/
Text:
Cresswell, Tim. Place: A Short Introduction. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2004.

Cresswell, Tim. Reading ‘A Global Sense of Place’. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2004.

Data:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books-A-Million