Book remainder company Daedalus Books will open its first standalone bookstore, in North Baltimore on January 16. "It's part of our plan to sell books in every reasonable way," said president Robin Moody. "And it's a great way to clear out inventory."
Daedalus, which began as a traditional remainder wholesaler in 1980, developed a large direct-mail business over the years and, more recently, started selling books over the Internet both to retailers via www.daedalus-wholesale.com and to consumers through the newer www.daedalusbooks.com. The store, Moody said, should complement those operations by allowing Daedalus to add more customer names to its mailing list.
Daedalus Books & Music is about 10,000 square feet and will sell music CDs in addition to books. Moody estimates that he will carry about 16,000 titles in the store, mostly hardcovers. The store will have large sections for children's, history, fiction and art books, but will not carry books in such categories as romance and how-to. Selection will be dictated in part by what inventory is available to Daedalus, though Moody isn't concerned about running out of stock. "We have great sources for getting inventory," he said.
The company already operates a warehouse outlet near its offices, which, Moody said, "has been really successful." He decided to open a separate store when he was asked by Baltimore city officials if he'd be interested in participating in the redevelopment of a strip mall. "They didn't want a chain store," he said. "They were looking for something different." Although Daedalus Books & Music doesn't have a cafe, it's next to a Starbucks, which has an entrance within the cafe that leads into Daedalus.
Traditional bookstore aspects of Daedalus will include a planned outreach program with area schools and children's in-store activities. What won't be traditional is the pricing. In keeping with its remaindering roots, most titles will be discounted 50% to 90%. Moody expects to carry a few new titles as well as a large selection of imported books from the U.K. Moody has no current plans to open a second Daedalus Books & Music, although he said if things go well "we may do others."
