Coles is a Canadian bookstore chain owned by Indigo Books and Music. Coles currently serves as Indigo's brand for small-scale bookstores in locations such as shopping malls. Some locations are operated as SmithBooks, and the company has recently begun to open selected small-format locations as "IndigoSpirit".[1]
In 1940, two brothers, Carl Cole and Jack Cole, opened their first bookstore in Toronto, near to the University of Toronto on Bloor Street near Spadina Avenue.[2] Prior to opening the store they had operated a "pushcart", buying up textbooks at the end of the school year and reselling them in the fall.
At the age of 11, the Coles were living in foster homes in Detroit and eventually Toronto.[citation needed] With the little amount of money they had, they were able to open their first store (paying rent daily as they could not afford the monthly rent payments).[citation needed] With no retail experience, the Cole brothers turned their store into what was once Canada's largest bookstore chain.
Jack and Carl Cole are also responsible for inventing Coles Notes.[3] Coles Notes began when students at a local high school were having trouble translating a French paper.[4][5] Jack and Carl hired someone to translate the book and sold over 1,000 copies. The original Coles Notes were typed up by Mrs. Alcorn, and produced by mimeograph machine.[citation needed] (Mrs. Alcorn stayed with Coles Bookstores as long as it remained in the hands of the Coles brothers.) Coles Notes have sold over 80,000,000 copies worldwide, and served as the foundation for the similar Cliffs Notes which are published in the U.S.
Jack Cole was an avid collector of Canadian books, and in the late 1960s started reprinting affordable, paperbound facsimile editions of scarce and rare Canadian history titles, such as George M. Grant's Ocean to Ocean: Sandford Fleming's expedition through Canada in 1872. Previous to the Cole's edition a history buff or student either had to pay a premium for the original edition if it could be found, have access to the rare book collection at a major library, or buy an expensive limited-edition reprint from a historical society or university press.
Not missing a trick, the Coles established ownership of critical trade names by establishing and registering their use in Canada. They published books under the banner of Waldenbooks, so when K-Mart wanted to introduce their captive book chain into Canada, they found that "Waldenbooks" was already registered and in use.[6] K-Mart was free to set up bookstores, just not Waldenbooks. They followed a similar ploy by having stores do business under the "Borders" name, as a blocking move.
In addition to the flagship brand, known for many years as "Coles - the Book People!", the company operated the self-proclaimed World's Biggest Bookstore in downtown Toronto,[7] as well as two other bookstore banners, Active Minds and The Book Company.[8]
In 1978, Jack and Carl sold Coles to Southam Inc.[9] In April 1995, Southam resold the company to Pathfinder Capital, which one year earlier had acquired Coles' main rival, SmithBooks.[10][11] That chain consisted of the Canadian former operations of British bookstore chain W H Smith (1950-1989), which had first been sold to Canadian owners in 1989.[2][8]
The merged company, Chapters Inc., opened Canada's first two book superstores under the "Chapters" brand in November 1995. The smaller-format bookstores retained their existing names, but over time many of these locations have been converted to the Coles banner. A handful of SmithBooks stores continue to operate as of late 2008, but even in these cases staff uniforms and shopping bags bear the "Coles" name.
Indigo purchased Chapters, and in turn Coles, in 2001.[12] A number of Coles locations continue to operate in Canada as of 2013, primarily in suburban shopping malls, though many have been closed in recent years, especially if located in close proximity to an Indigo or Chapters location, with others converted into IndigoSpirit stores.
Expansion into the United States
After dominating the Canadian book market by the early 1970s, Coles found little opportunity for further growth within Canada and Jack Coles decided to explore further expansion south of the border by opening new "Coles - the Book People!" stores in the rapidly expanding United States market.[13][6]
The first store in the United States was opened in Buffalo, New York, in 1973.[6] By 1980, there were 56 stores in the United States with more being opened.[13] In 1987, Southam decided to sell or close the U.S. stores since the stores were not generating enough profit.[14] A few months later 52 U.S. stores were sold to K-Mart and were converted into Waldenbooks stores.[15][16]
Related Research Articles
Indigo Books & Music Inc., known as "Indigo" and stylized "!ndigo", is Canada's only major English-language bookstore chain. It is Canada's largest book, gift, and specialty toy retailer, operating stores in all ten provinces and one territory, and through a website offering a selection of books, toys, home décor, stationery, and gifts. Most Chapters and Indigo stores include a Starbucks café inside. As of 2022, Indigo has started selling music, and select audio equipment.
Jewel-Osco is a regional supermarket chain in the Chicago metropolitan area, headquartered in Itasca, a western suburb. In 2007, the company had 188 stores across northern, central, and western Illinois; eastern Iowa; and portions of northwest Indiana. Jewel-Osco has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Boise-based Albertsons since 1999. The company originally started as a door-to-door coffee delivery service before it expanded into delivering non-perishable groceries and later into grocery stores, and supermarkets. Prior to its 1984 acquisition by American Stores, Jewel evolved into a large multi-state holding company that operated several supermarket chains and other non-food retail chain stores located from coast to coast and had operated under several different brand names.
Borders Group, Inc. was an American multinational book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. In its final year, the company employed about 19,500 people throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders and Waldenbooks stores.
Chapters Inc. is a Canadian big box bookstore banner owned by Indigo Books and Music. Formerly a separate company competing with Indigo, the combined company has continued to operate both banners since their merger in 2001. As of July 2017, it operated 89 superstores under the banners Chapters and Indigo, and 122 small format stores under the banners Coles, Indigospirit, SmithBooks and The Book Company.
Broadway Stores, Inc., was an American retailer based in Southern California. Known through its history as Carter Hawley Hale Stores and Broadway Hale Stores over time, it acquired other retail store chains in regions outside its California home base and became in certain retail sectors a regional and national retailer in the 1970s and 1980s. The company was able to survive takeover attempts in 1984 and 1986, and also a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 1991 by selling off most of its assets until August 1995 when its banks refused to advance enough additional credit in order for the company to be able to pay off suppliers. At that point, the company sold itself to Federated Department Stores for $1.6 billion with the acquisition being completed on October 12, 1995.
Waldenbooks, operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain, from 1995 as 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 educational toy chain under Walden Kids. In 2011, the chain was liquidated in bankruptcy.
The World's Biggest Bookstore was a bookstore in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at 20 Edward St, just north of the Toronto Eaton Centre and the Atrium on Bay. Operating from 1980 until 2014, the three-storey store covered 64,000 square feet and was noted for its bright lights and over 20 kilometres of bookshelves.
An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store. They may be structured as sole proprietorships, closely held corporations or partnerships, cooperatives, or nonprofits. Independent stores can be contrasted with chain bookstores, which have many locations and are owned by large corporations, which often have other divisions besides bookselling.
Brentano's was an American bookstore chain with numerous locations in the United States.
Renaud-Bray is the largest chain of French-language bookstores in North America, and the largest bookstore chain in Canada after Chapters/Indigo.
B. Dalton Bookseller was an American retail bookstore chain founded in 1966 by Bruce Dayton, a member of the same family that operated the Dayton's department store chain. B. Dalton expanded to become the largest retailer of hardcover books in the United States, with 779 stores at the peak of the chain's success. Located mainly at indoor shopping malls, B. Dalton competed primarily with Waldenbooks. Barnes & Noble acquired the chain from Dayton's in 1987 and continued to operate it until a late 2009 announcement that the last 50 stores would be liquidated by January 2010. B. Dalton was later revived by rebranding a Barnes & Noble location in 2022.
Kroch's and Brentano's was the largest bookstore in Chicago, and at one time it was the largest privately owned bookstore chain in the United States. The store and the chain were formed in 1954 through the merger of the separate Kroch's bookstore with the former Chicago branch of the New York-based Brentano's bookstore. The chain was closed in 1995 after suffering financial losses from increased competition.
Coles Notes are student guides to literature, published in Canada. The Coles bookstore first published Coles Notes in 1948. The first title published was on the French novella Colomba by Prosper Mérimée.
Carl and Jack Cole, born Carl Kolofsky and Isadore Kolofsky, were American brothers who created the successful bookstore chain Coles as well as the world-famous publication Coles Notes. Carl and Jack made Coles the largest bookstore chain in Canada in the mid- to late-20th century.
Rakuten Kobo Inc., or simply Kobo, is a Canadian company that sells ebooks, audiobooks, ereaders and tablet computers. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, and is a subsidiary of the Japanese ecommerce conglomerate Rakuten. The name Kobo is an anagram of book.
Interstate Department Stores, Inc., was an American holding company for a chain of small department stores, founded in Delaware in 1928. After a very rapid expansion as the result of acquisition and expansion of two discount store chains acquired in 1959 and 1960 and also two toy store chains acquired in 1967 and 1969, the firm was renamed in 1970 as Interstate Stores, Inc., to better reflect its business. Increased competition and the changes in consumer buying habits eventually led to decreased sales in the late 1960s and early 1970s which forced the firm to file for bankruptcy in 1974. After shedding all of its non-performing units, the firm was able to exit bankruptcy with the entire toy division intact along with a small remnant of the department store division in 1978. The firm was renamed Toys "R" Us upon emergence from bankruptcy.
↑ Renzetti, Elizabeth (March 10, 1998). "Smart enough to keep them Coles Notes first editio_n nets pair $2,500 each". The Globe and Mail. p.D.1. Sam Darichuk and Marion Stephenson split a $5,000 prize for producing the 1948 Coles Notes translation of Prosper Mérimée's Colomba, a long-forgotten 1904 adventure story set in Corsica.Link via ProQuest.
↑ "50 years of Coles Notes". Vancouver Sun. January 31, 1998. p.D9. Chapters bookstore will pay $5,000 for an intact copy of the first Coles Notes ever published. Chapters, which owns the rights to Coles Notes, wants to find the first edition of the notes -- a study guide for Columba, a translated French novel by Prosper Merimee, which was on Ontario's Grade 13 curriculum in 1948.Link via ProQuest.
↑ Keddy, Barbara (July 20, 1978). "Southam to buy control of Coles at $23 a share". The Globe and Mail. p.B.1. Southam Press Ltd. of Toronto has agreed to purchase the controlling interest in Canada's largest chain of retail book stores, Coles Book Stores Ltd. of Toronto. Southam will purchase the interest in Coles held by the Cole family, who own 900,000 shares, or 62 per cent, of the outstanding stock.Link via ProQuest.
↑ Israelson, David & Daw, James (September 8, 1994). "Coles joining SmithBooks to form giant The two chains to have 434 stores across Canada". Toronto Star. p.B1. Coles and SmithBooks, two of Canada's best known booksellers, are joining forces to battle the invading U.S. retail giants, the companies have announced. Coles' parent Southam Inc. has signed a letter of intent to sell the bookstores to FICG Inc., owner of SmithBooks. The sale will give the two chains a total of 434 stores, or 21 per cent of all bookshops in Canada.Alternate Link via ProQuest.
↑ "Coles sale done deal". Vancouver Sun. March 22, 1995. p.D.6. The federal government has closed the book on its review of the sale of Coles Book Stores to FICG Inc., owner of rival SmithBooks. Southam Inc., which owns Coles, said Tuesday the Bureau of Competition Policy will not challenge the sale. With the regulatory hurdle cleared, the deal is expected to be completed by early next month. SmithBooks announced in September it was taking over the 258 Coles stores across the country, giving the combined company 430 outlets and about 30 per cent of the book retailing market. Southam, which also owns 17 daily newspapers across Canada and various business information services, is selling the money-losing book store chain in return for a minority interest in the new company.Link via ProQuest.
1 2 "Jack Cole's Growing Bookstore Empire: Canada's No. 1 Chain Setting Sights on U.S.". The New York Times. December 23, 1980. p.D3. Since 1973, Coles Book Stores Ltd., of which the 60-year-old, outspoken Mr. Coles is co-founder and president, has opened 56 stores across the United States, 12 of them last year. Coles now has 165 stores in Canada, more than three times those of its closest chain competitors. To protect himself against American competition, Mr. Cole has frozen the B. Dalton and the Walden chains out of the Canadian market by register those names himself in 1973 in Canada. Books for the United States stores are bought there, shipped to the Toronto warehouse and then distributed to the United States. Investment analysts says a shortage of locations has Mr. Cole in a quandary in his push into the United States. "He had to enter the United States market since opportunities in Canada are limited, with shopping center construction going down and the market being saturated." "But it is more difficult for him to get locations in the United States since he isn't well known there."Link via ProQuest.
↑ "Southam to sell U.S. Coles stores". Vancouver Sun. April 24, 1987. p.C6. Southam Inc. is looking for buyers for its 50 Coles book stores in the United States, president John Fisher says. The U.S. outlets are scattered and Southam has long talked about consolidating them into only a few urban centres.Link via ProQuest.
↑ "Coles Book Stores will sell U.S. assets to Waldenbooks Inc". The Globe and Mail. July 22, 1987. p.B.5. Coles Book Stores Ltd. , a unit of Southam Inc. of Toronto, says it has agreed in principle to sell its U.S. store assets to Waldenbooks Inc. of Stamford, Conn. Terms were not disclosed. The sale involves Coles' 52 stores in the United States and associated assets. Coles will continue to operate its 185 stores in Canada.Link via ProQuest.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
