Bradley’s Book Outlet to close all 8 of its stores
After nearly 27 years, Bradley’s Book Outlet is closing all its brickand-mortar locations.
The company, which opened its first store on Smithfield Street in 1993 and made a name for itself as a place to find discounted bestsellers, will close eight locations in Pennsylvania by the end of the year, according to owner Mike Paper.
Bradley’s will continue to operate its wholesale and online businesses, which make up the bulk of the revenue, he said.
Even after years of declining sales from brick-and-mortar stores, the decision to close the locations wasn’t easy, said Mr. Paper, who described himself as a retailer “first and foremost.”
He believed the stores could turn around and he liked to use the space to store inventory to keep the warehouses clean. Mostly, he wanted to keep the company’s long-time workers employed.
As a result of the closures, Bradley’s will lay off about 50 employees. The company’s stores are in Frazer, Uniontown, Grove City, Altoona, State College, Cranberry, Indiana and Dubois.
Mr. Paper attributes the declining revenue to less foot traffic at shopping malls, where most of Bradley’s stores were located. That was only exacerbated by COVID-19, which shut down most businesses temporarily and made online shopping the more enticing option.
“If you go in the mall, you can hear a pin drop,” Mr. Paper said, referencing smaller crowds even before COVID-19 altered business. “Now, with COVID, most of the malls we’re in are losing tenants every time we turn around.
“It’s gotten to the point where a turnaround [in sales and revenue] just seems highly unlikely,” he said.
But COVID-19 spurred an increase in business for Bradley’s’ other ventures. The company’s online sales during the initial period of business closures rivaled the holiday season, Mr. Paper said. Now, its wholesale business is getting a boost as stores look to stock up to meet pent-up customer demand.
Mr. Paper would not disclose revenue information, but said it was like “two Christmases back to back.”
Bradley’s will start a liquidation sale on Friday that will run through the end of the year. The
stores will likely close one by one, Mr. Paper said, adding the company is open to potential buyers for a few locations.
After surviving the opening of “superstores” like Barnes & Noble and Borders, the launch of online retailer Amazon and the popularity of digital reading devices like Kindles and Nooks, Mr. Paper is optimistic about Bradley’s’ future.
“People have been writing us off since the beginning and we’ve been able to not only survive, but expand,” he said.
“I paid attention to all that stuff, but I always felt that there was a market for brickand-mortar retail and I still think there is, just not in the same format that we’re operating.”
Mr. Paper said Bradley’s is focused on other aspects of the business for now, but he did offer one alternative option to continue brick-andmortar sales in the future: pop-up shops.
“Times change,” he said. “And we’ve adjusted in the past, and this is just another in a long series of adjustments.”