Family-owned book retailer to close 8 stores, including 1 in Pittsburgh Mills mall - TribLIVE

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The Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer is losing yet another tenant.

Bradley’s Book Outlet, a discount book retailer based in Blawnox, announced this week it is closing all eight of its brick-and-mortar stores, including the one in the Mills mall, because of the coronavirus pandemic and the viability of the malls in which its stores are located.

Liquidation sales began Friday, but the stores will remain open through the end of the year.

Owner Mike Paper said closing the company’s retail stores is sad for several reasons. One, he started out in retail, which he enjoys. Two, he said the stores worked well with the company’s internet and wholesale divisions. And three, he’s going to be losing employees and loyal customers.

“The stores had, in general, been maybe at break-even the last two or three years. I was OK with that for the various reasons I just explained. But, with the virus hitting, the foot traffic in the malls was way down,” Paper said.

The store is one of several businesses the struggling Mills mall has lost in recent years.

Earlier this year, mall anchor tenants Cinemark and J.C.Penney announced they would be vacating the mall, owned by Long Island, N.Y.-based Mason Asset Management.

“We are disappointed to learn of the news from Bradley’s Books that they will be closing their Pittsburgh Mills mall location,” said Igal Nassim of Mason Asset Management. “While we are saddened by the closure, we look forward to the opportunity to continue to identify new and different tenants at our property.”

Bradley’s has been at the Mills mall for about five years. Paper said that location has been one of the company’s “better stores.”

“It was very good,” Paper said. “We did very well since we’ve been there.”

In addition to the Mills mall, Bradley’s has stores at Nittany Mall, Logan Valley Mall, Cranberry Mall, DuBois Mall, Grove City Premium Outlets, Indiana Mall and Uniontown Mall. Other stores in Pittsburgh’s Station Square and Strip District closed last year.

The stores are up for sale. Paper hopes someone might want to buy one to run independently.

“Out of the eight remaining stores, I would say there’s probably three or four that have always been profitable,” Paper said. “That’s where we’re hoping there’s an interest to maybe keep a few of the stores open.”

Paper couldn’t say how much he would sell the stores for. He said it will depend on the location of the store and what fixtures or inventory a buyer might be interested in.

“I prefer to keep the jobs going and keep the store running intact,” Paper said. “I would do whatever it took to try to make that happen.”

District Manager Dana Johnson said the closures have been more emotional than expected. She’s worked at Bradley’s for four years.

Each store had its own personality and layout, developed by the managers, Johnson said, adding that bookstore customers are some of the nicest people she’s ever met.

“A lot of heart and soul has gone into it,” Johnson said, “so it’s really sad to see it all kind of vanish.”

Bradley’s started in Downtown Pittsburgh in 1993. More than 90% of the inventory is made up of publisher overstocks and remainders, meaning customers are able to buy popular books at deeply discounted rates.

Paper and his dad, Lawrence, opened their first location in what had been an Atlantic Book Store. Soon after opening, they had to move to a new location because they couldn’t compete with a Barnes & Noble that had moved in across the street.

“We moved across town onto lower Fifth Avenue and into a big, giant space,” Paper said. “It was maybe twice the size of our existing space, but it was below grade, like a basement space.”

Paper and his dad couldn’t afford to buy books to fill the space, so they went out and got a truckload of remainders. Because of the “bargain basement feel,” it ended up being a hit.

“From that point we’ve always been in the remainder business,” Paper said.

Since then, the company has grown to include an internet and wholesale division.

Both of those will continue on.

“Our wholesale and internet are intact and actually doing well,” Paper said.

Madasyn Lee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Madasyn at 724-226-4702, mlee@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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Family-owned book retailer to close 8 stores, including 1 in Pittsburgh Mills mall - TribLIVE

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