Waldenbooks Pin

Show everyone you're a preferred reader in this shirt. On March 4, 1933, Lawrence Hoyt opened a rental library in a leased space inside a Bridgeport, CT department store under the name Walden Book Company. By 1948 it had grown to over 250 locations in various department stores. In 1962, the company opened its first "Waldenbooks" store in the Northway Mall in Pittsburgh, PA. The 1970s were a time of extraordinary growth for Waldenbooks, with new stores opening around the country at the rate of one per week. Waldenbooks had opened its 500th store in 1978 and by 1981 it had become the first bookstore chain to have stores in every state. By the time the company was celebrating its 50th anniversary in 1983, Walden was operating 830 store...