Joseph-Beth Booksellers is an independent bookseller with two stores in the United States. It formerly operated a total of seven under the Joseph-Beth name and two under the Davis-Kidd Booksellers name. The name "Joseph-Beth" derives from the middle names of its two founders, Neil and Mary Beth Van Uum. They opened their first store in
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...
in November 1986.
In 1989, they were recognized by the Greater Lexington Chamber of Commerce as the "1989 Small Business of the Year".
In 1997, the company absorbed 4 Davis-Kidd Booksellers stores in
Tennessee in
Nashville
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...
,
Knoxville,
Memphis, and
Jackson. The Knoxville store closed in 2000, but the Jackson bookstore remained open until 200
The Nashville and Memphis locations remained open until 2010 and continued to operate under the Davis-Kidd name.
On November 11, 2010, Joseph-Beth filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed the Davis-Kidd location in Nashville, as well as Joseph-Beth locations in Pittsburgh, Charlotte, and one of the two locations in Northeast Ohio. In May 2011, the company and three of its stores were purchased by the Lexington, Kentucky store's landlord. The Fredericksburg, Virginia Joseph-Beth and the Memphis, Tennessee Davis-Kidd locations were initially sold to a liquidator. However, Joseph-Beth founder Neil Van Uum was able to purchase the Memphis location with the financial backing of the Memphis landlord from the liquidators and continued to operate the store as The Booksellers at Laurelwood, as the Davis-Kidd name was purchased in the bankruptcy auction. This store has since closed, and a new independent bookstore has opened in its place. The remaining three Joseph-Beth locations—Lexington, Cincinnati and the Cleveland Clinic specialty store—remain in operation under the new owner.
On November 14, 2011, Joseph-Beth opened their fourth location at Crestview Hills Town Center in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. This location was forced to close in May 2020 due to declining year-over-year sales and declining business due to
COVID-19.
References
External links
Joseph-Beth BooksellersDavis-Kidd Booksellers
Companies based in Cincinnati
Independent bookstores of the United States
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