Misplaced Pages

#334665

33-738: The Prix Brentano was a literary award given annually by the American bookstore chain Brentano's to a French novel that "illustrate[s] eminently the French cultural ideal". The first award (with a check for $ 1,000) was given in 1929. The prize was installed to present a French novel in English translation to an American reading public. The first "Committee of Honor" comprised poet and diplomat Paul Claudel , diplomat and politician Myron T. Herrick , and Irish novelist George Moore . The French audience

66-645: A part of the Waldenbooks subsidiary of Borders Group , Inc., an Ann Arbor, Michigan –based book and music retailer. Brentano's was founded as an independent bookstore in New York City in 1853 by August Brentano , who established a newsstand in front of the New York Hotel. The first branch store for the company was opened in Washington D.C. in 1883. A year later, a second branch store

99-587: A publisher, with a specialization in French literature that led it to publish under the imprint "Éditions Brentano's" many titles by French writers in exile during the Vichy France period. In an attempt to prevent possible liquidation of the company, the publishing department was sold to Coward-McCann in 1933. In the 1943 film Heaven Can Wait , Henry Van Cleve ( Don Ameche ) met his future wife Martha Strable ( Gene Tierney ) in Brentano's. Brentano's

132-678: A way to distribute American newspapers and books by American authors that were not well-known outside of the United States, many of which were reprinted in Europe by Brentano's, to Europeans. According to an 1887 New York Times article, the Paris store (Brentano's S.A.) was first opened on the Avenue de l'Opéra in 1887 by Arthur Brentano. This store was closed during the German occupation but

165-1010: The Prudential Center , and another in Austin, Texas. There were also three stores in Southern California: in Westwood Village, Beverly Hills, and Costa Mesa. There were two stores outside of Washington, D.C.: one in the Seven Corners shopping center in Falls Church, Virginia, and another in Prince Georges Plaza in Maryland. Brentano's was owned by Macmillan in the 1970s and early 1980s, before being bought out by three of Brentano's higher ranking employees. Soon after, Brentano's became

198-485: The Brentano's name within the states of Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Kroch kept his Brentano's store in Chicago as a separate subsidiary of his existing Kroch's bookstore until 1954 when the stores were combined to form Kroch's and Brentano's . Kroch succeeded in preventing MacMillan, Waldenbooks, and Borders from using the Brentano's name within the Chicago area market. In 1944, Arthur Brentano died and

231-474: The Chicago branch of his family's New York bookstore at 101 State street. By 1930, Brentano's was the largest bookstore chain in the United States with 10 locations, 5 of which were outside of New York City, plus 2 additional affiliated locations in Europe. Unfortunately, Brentano's expanded too fast just prior to the start of the Great Depression and its creditors, mostly publishers and banks, forced

264-593: The London store might have been replaced by a publishing office by that time. Under Macmillan, Brentano's opened its first and only Canadian store in Toronto in 1975. This store had the distinction of being the only American-owned bookstore with a physical location within Canada. This store was closed shortly after Brentano's had filed for bankruptcy in 1982. From its headquarters at 586 Fifth Avenue , Brentano's became

297-534: The Night (chapter XX), and This Side of Paradise (chapter 2). Kroch%27s and Brentano%27s Adolph Kroch, an Austrian immigrant to Chicago, founded a German-language bookstore on Monroe Street in 1907. He switched to English-language books during World War I . A few years, later he moved the store to a larger location at 22 N. Michigan. After 15 years at that location, Kroch's International Book Shop moved to 206 N. Michigan Avenue in 1927. This store became

330-526: The United States. Under the leadership of Arthur Brentano, Brentano's had stores in Paris and London. Although the Brentano family owned the European stores, the stores were not a part of the same corporation that had owned the American stores and were not affected by the 1933 bankruptcy. It is not known when the Brentano family sold its interest in either store. Both of these stores were frequented by American expatriates . Brentano's also used these stores as

363-806: The company to Businesship International. After closing more stores, the new parent company was unable to turn the company around and was forced to file for bankruptcy in June 1995 and was liquidated. The remaining stores finally closed on July 31, 1995. During the late part of the Nineteenth and the early part of the Twentieth Centuries, the New York City-based Brentano's had a branch store in Chicago. This store had been operating for several decades before Adolph Kroch opened his bookstore. In 1884, Arthur Brentano opened

SECTION 10

#1732802413335

396-555: The company to file for bankruptcy in March 1933. The creditors preferred to see the assets of the firm sold to a group willing to maintain the company as on going business enterprise instead of liquidating the firm and glutting the bookselling market by having a large number of books being at below costs and thus destroying the bookselling market for publishers and other dealers. At the bankruptcy sale, financier (and later U.S. ambassador) Stanton Griffis teamed up with Adolf Kroch to make

429-503: The firm acquired a lot of debt in the process and its creditors forced the company to reorganize in 1930 while still allowing the Brentano family to manage the chain. Even though the company continued to have cash flow problems, the company went ahead and opened its tenth store within the United States in Pittsburgh in 1930. The creditor-imposed reorganization plan of 1930 did not solve the cash flow problem. In March 1933, Brentano's

462-424: The first of its kind in Chicago. Kroch's and Brentano's was said to have the finest selection of art books in the region, and its sales clerks were famously knowledgeable. One such individual was Henry Tabor, who ran the art department. There was seemingly nothing he didn't know in the world of art. The flagship store at 29 S. Wabash had several distinct departments including one run by Alice (Morimoto) Goda who

495-528: The largest bookstore in Chicago by the time this location was closed in 1953. In 1933, Kroch was able to purchase the Chicago branch of the New York-based Brentano's bookstore which had been in Chicago since 1884. To prevent Brentano's from re-entering Chicago, Kroch kept the Brentano name and operated this store as a separate business from his own Kroch's bookstore until his retirement. Adolf Kroch decided to retire in 1947 and to hand over

528-488: The management of the company to his son Carl. In 1953, Carl announced that he would form the "World's Largest Bookstore" the following year by merging the separate Kroch's and Brentano's bookstores and by enlarging the space that was then occupied by Brentano's at 29 South Wabash Avenue to 40,000 square feet of retail space. In the basement of this store was another store that was called "Super Book Mart" which specialized in carrying paperbacks and low cost hardback reprints,

561-563: The new management was forced to file for bankruptcy less than a year later in 1982 and finally liquidated in 1984. As part of the liquidation sale, the Waldenbooks subsidiary of Kmart acquired three stores that were located in Beverly Hills, Costa Mesa , and St. Louis with the original intention of converting the stores to the Waldenbooks brand. After remodeling, while keeping the Brentano's name, Waldenbooks discovered that

594-480: The store suffered when large discount chains, such as Crown Books , opened up nearby. When Crown opened its downtown Chicago store a few blocks north of the 29 S. Wabash location, Kroch's management felt that it was not a serious threat, since it did not offer "full service". However, unable to compete with the discount bookstores, Kroch's and Brentano's closed its doors in 1995. Always known for major book signings through its entire history, its final major book signing

627-534: The stores were bringing in more money than equivalent Waldenbooks of the same age so they decided to keep the Brentano's brand and expand the brand to other upscale neighborhoods as the upscale bookstore brand for the Walden Book division. In 1992, Kmart acquired Borders . At that time, it kept Brentano's in the separate Waldenbooks division until the formation of the Borders-Walden Group that

660-462: The successful bid to purchase the firm. Their bid was successful since they were the only group that had included a successful bookstore owner, which probably influenced the decision made by the creditors. For his part in the bankruptcy sale, Kroch received the Chicago branch store and the exclusive right to use and control the Brentano's name within the states of Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Kroch kept his Brentano's store in Chicago as

693-405: The time of the transition the chain had 17 locations. Increased competition from Crown, Borders, Barnes & Noble, and other discount bookstores forced the company to close all 10 of its suburban mall locations and leaving the remaining 7 Chicago locations open in 1993. A few months later when the company was on verge of bankruptcy, Kroch bought back the company and then turned around and resold

SECTION 20

#1732802413335

726-917: Was an American bookstore chain with numerous locations in the United States. As of the 1970s, there were four Brentano's in New York: the Fifth Avenue flagship store at Rockefeller Center, one in Greenwich Village, one in Manhasset, and one in White Plains. There was a store in the Bergen Mall (Paramus, N.J.) which closed as the Short Hills, N.J., store was being built. There were Boston-area stores in Chestnut Hill and

759-563: Was done just prior to the Borders Group being spun off as an independent company in 1994. Under Borders, the Brentano's stores were still managed by Waldenbooks. With increased competition during the 1990s and 2000s from superstores and Internet stores, Borders was forced to close the money-losing Brentano and Waldenbooks stores. On 18 July 2011, Borders Group filed for bankruptcy and closed all remaining Brentano's stores. At various times in its history, Brentano's had stores outside of

792-557: Was featured in an episode of Mad About You . The episode featured Barbara Feldon playing a novelist in which her character was doing a book signing. Brentano's was featured prominently in a few episodes of Seinfeld , most notably " The Bookstore ". Brentano's also appeared in the film Norman... Is That You? Brentano's was mentioned in William Dean Howells ' A Hazard of New Fortunes (chapter 10) and F. Scott Fitzgerald 's " Babylon Revisited ", Tender Is

825-430: Was forced by its publishers and banks to file for bankruptcy. During the bankruptcy sale, financier (and later U.S. ambassador) Stanton Griffis and Chicago bookstore owner Adolf Kroch bought the firm. Griffis became the chairman of the board of directors while keeping Arthur Brentano on as president. For his part in the bankruptcy sale, Kroch received the Chicago branch store and the exclusive right to use and control

858-670: Was one of the first American owned businesses to reopen after the Liberation of Paris . The Brentano's on Avenue de l'Opéra in Paris closed in 2009 but was bought and reopened in 2010 by Iranian businessman Farock Sharifi. The London store (Brentano's Ltd.) first opened in 1889. When that store opened, there were stores in New York, Chicago, Washington and Paris. According in a 1927 article in The Washington Post ,

891-494: Was opened in Chicago in 1884. Simon Brentano served as president of the firm until his death in 1915. He was replaced by his brother Arthur. By 1928, Brentano's had four stores outside of New York City, in Washington D.C., Chicago, London, and Paris. On the eve of the Great Depression , the firm expanded rapidly to become the largest bookstore chain in the nation with four stores in New York City, plus single stores in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington. Unfortunately,

924-465: Was opened in the affluent suburb of Beverly Hills in 1972. Two decades later, the corporate parent Macmillan , which had acquired Brentano's upon merger with Crowell Collier in 1961, decided to divest itself of Brentano's by selling the retail chain to Brentano's management in 1981. At the time of the sale, Brentano's had 28 stores with locations that had included Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Toronto, Dallas, San Francisco and San Diego. Unfortunately,

957-538: Was presented a high-paying award supposedly free of the machinations of French juried prizes. Jacques Le Clerq, translator of the first two winning novels, said that since the jury was composed of foreigners there could be "no manoeuvres of cliques such as must necessarily attend French prize awards". At the time, it was the highest-paying literary award beside the Nobel Prize in Literature . The prizewinning novel

990-486: Was replaced as president by his son, Arthur Brentano Jr. Five years later, Arthur Brentano, Jr. was replaced as president by Nixon Griffis, the son of Stanton Griffis. The publishing company Crowell Collier acquired Brentano's in 1962. At the time of the acquisition, Brentano's had 16 stores located in 5 states plus the District of Columbia. First store in the rapid expanding and lucrative southern California market

1023-508: Was secretary to the vice-president which was a mail order center that tracked down obscure out-of-print titles for customers around the world. The store frequently exhibited noted painters' and photographers' work on the walls, and regularly hosted book signings by major authors. At its peak Kroch's had a total of 22 stores in the Chicago metropolitan area . Kroch refused to offer the sorts of discounts that other book chains did, even though

Prix Brentano - Misplaced Pages Continue

1056-468: Was subsequently translated into English and published by Brentano's. The first jury included translator Lewis Galantière , novelist and critic Malcolm Cowley , and Jacques Le Clerq, and unanimously awarded the prize to Jean Giono 's debut novel Colline , translated in English as Hill of Destiny . The second was awarded to Jeanne Galzy for Burnt Offering . It does not appear as if any more were awarded after 1930. Brentano%27s Brentano's

1089-425: Was with heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman , who was promoting his autobiography By George . That event was hosted by Don Hailman, a long time manager with the company. Employee Hans Summers waited on the store's final customer at its flagship store on Wabash in downtown Chicago. At the age of 72, owner Carl Kroch decided to step down as president and CEO and sell the chain to his 700 employees in 1986. At

#334665