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Is this still considered a stub, or can the "stub" label be removed?
If anyone likes the black logo I had up there, here's the picture:
Image:Hdr bam on black.gif
I went to the Books-A-Million corporate website, and found no mention of the Books & Company division for the company. So, I'm guessing it was phased out at some point, though I don't have a reference for when that might have happened. If anyone out there has info, bring it on! — ArkansasTraveler 18:55, 29 December 2005 (UTC)
Actually, Books & Company still operates, out of Kettering, Ohio. It was originally an independent store that was purchased by Books-A-Million. At one point, I believe BAM opened a second Books & Company in Alabama, but that one went out of business. A second Books & Company will be opening in the Dayton area in the fall.
Hi, I am new here so I don't know how to address this personally but the Joe Muggs link is redirecting to Starbucks. Starbucks is a competitor. It probably shouldn't redirect to Starbucks even if there is no Joe Muggs page. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.168.209.148 ( talk) 07:25, 12 April 2007 (UTC).
Image:Hdr bam on black.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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BetacommandBot 05:08, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
Image:Hdr bam on black.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot 05:11, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
Can't find much 3rd party on AWBC. I know they used to fill for Wal-Mart and some for Target. Do they still? Also, is AWBC hq'd in Florence, AL, or in TN? I thought the former, but ran across a couple references to the latter. -- BizMgr ( talk) 16:18, 30 January 2008 (UTC)
I had posted a rather large history section from answers.com, and it was deleted seemingly spontaneously. Any explanation for that? It was a copy and paste job, but I was under the impression that objective historical fact was fair game for such practice. What would I have to do to get a history section in to the liking of the wiki community? Eikou 10:13, 18 January 2011
History
The earliest roots of Books-A-Million are found in a newspaper stand in 1917. Clyde W. Anderson, ancestor to the current executive leadership in the company, found a unique niche in the newspaper business by providing transient construction workers with papers from their hometowns. Business in this front was good enough to allow the young man and his brother to open a book shop. Clyde's son Charles C. Anderson inherited the bookstore in 1950, and began a chain of bookstores known as "Bookland". Bookland stores were commonly found in shopping malls, which were growing rapidly in popularity during the 1970's.
The first Books-A-Million opened in 1988 in Huntsville Alabama, and action taken in response to the surge of big brand bookstores that were growing in popularity across the United States. This store was a sharp contrast to its predecessors, spanning 30,000 square feet of selling space, and various other types of merchandise as well as books. Books-A-Million maintained a small town, regional focus in a time where most stores were gaining a more national, metropolitan focus. These small towns were not able to support a book store that sold only books, but the Books-A-Million model proved profitable.
In 1992, the company went public on the NASDAQ exchange. This was the time when they finally officially changed their name from Bookland to Books-A-Million. Expanding on their "bookstore and more" model, they offered frequent in-store activities such as book signings and readings. They also adopted Joe Muggs coffee shops, and included them in the bookstore. The focus was to illicit an environment where books could be enjoyed.
Books-A-Million entered the e-commerce world in 1999 when they published their own website and began online dealings of hard merchandise such as books, audiobooks, radio shows, etc. as well as digital merchandise.
Under this model, the stores continued to grow. Today there are over 200 stores across the southeastern US. Books-A-Million continues to look towards expanding beyond being "just a book store", and has recently struck a deal with Yogurt Mountain as well as spawning a spin-off company, 2nd and Charles.
(Penderson, Jay P. (2011). International Directory of Company Histories. MI: Cengage Learning. ISBN 1-4144-6881-4.)
I wouldn't doubt that there are factual bits of information in your proposed addition, but there is also much else in there. The manner in which it is written, taken after the source itself, is not particularly encyclopedic. E.g. ...
Then there is the remaining question about what the true source of the information is in the first place. I won't dispute that basic facts can be reliably sourced from this book. Those facts would include the dates at the company official expanded in this or that way, etc. However, the added fluffery and subjective claims made by the source are not usable. Griswaldo ( talk) 20:21, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
I wouldn't doubt that there are factual bits of information in your proposed addition, but there is also much else in there. The manner in which it is written, taken after the source itself, is not particularly encyclopedic. E.g. ...
* Clyde W. Anderson, ancestor to the current executive leadership in the company ...
-Ancestor to current leadership, as written. Meaningful because while he was not the Books-A-Million founder, he was the founder of the store that led to it, as it says as the article continues. How about something like "Clyde W. Anderson, the earliest company's first employee," or something like that?Eikou (talk) 20:43, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
* ...found a unique niche in the newspaper business by providing transient construction workers with papers from their hometowns...
-It was a unique niche based on the fact that the construction workers had not previously found a business willing to satisfy their need. It is a direct logical implication, self-evident in the text. The way the source tells this story does not stop it from being recorded fact by the source that we have every reason to believe is reliable. I'm open to rewording, but I can't think of how. Suggestion?Eikou (talk) 20:43, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
* Books-A-Million maintained a small town, regional focus in a time where most stores were gaining a more national, metropolitan focus.
-This was a comment that was made in the source. I'm not sure how you would call it PR. That would imply that one approach is for some reason superior to the other. What it is meant to say is that they did not grow outside the southeast. How about: "Books-A-Million expanded within the southeastern United States in areas that, by comparison to the country's more metropolitan areas, had low population density." or something like that? Eikou (talk) 20:43, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
-I am of course happy to oblige in the area of working out the needless fluffery. Language convention and good rhetoric calls for expanding the data from chart form into sentence form. When you write this, it makes it seem like you want there to be only a bullet list of dates and facts, which is not the way Wikipedia articles are written (mostly). I'm sure that's not what you're asking for, but perhaps if you could tell me a bit more specifically what changes you'd like to see... Please do provide your suggested edits of the problem sentences if you have thoughts.
-In a circumstance like this, it would have been more helpful to move them or reply to them rather than erase them and ignore them. Eikou ( talk) 22:10, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
I've asked for input on the book reliability question at the Reliable Sources Noticeboard. See Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard#Books-A-Million_history_sourcing. Cheers. Griswaldo ( talk) 22:19, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
Sounds good. Assuming it comes back reliable, we'll be in agreement? Then would I post the proposed addition or would you? Eikou ( talk) 22:22, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
I'm considering a different approach to this. I've been researching, and I see that Books-A-Million the corporation has several... subsidiaries I think you'd call them? They own other companies... I'm not sure my business lingo is exactly right. Anyway, I was thinking of making the main article about the corporation alone, then creating a second section called "subsidiaries" (or whatever the right word is), with a sub-section for each of their 7 businesses and a small entry for each. They are:
I thought this seemed like a solid idea since it's already suggested that Joe Muggs be merged with BAM. Of course, it goes without saying that each subsection would have 2-3 sources for referencing and completely original writing. I noticed that there's already a Bookland article though. Should this one be merged or perhaps linked? (On a more personal side note, I'm beginning to see how people get addicted to this. The rigorous wiki process definitely has its draw.) Eikou ( talk) 23:21, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
After a brief talk with TransporterMan, I understand much better what the page needs to consist of. He recommended I avoid phrases such as "The premier bookseller", which makes tons of sense to me. He also said the previous source would probably be acceptable (if unchallenged), as long as it all I pull from it is objective data and not fluffy sentences that contain phrases like the one mentioned. I feel the rewrite will be much more encyclopedic in nature. I plan to post it today, so please be on the lookout. Eikou ( talk) 15:39, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
Alright it's posted! Please review. I added a Joe Muggs section. I wasn't quite sure about the merger procedure, so I left the merge tag as well. If it seems good to the next editor, It seems to me the tag can be removed, and the Joe Muggs entry can redirect to the section Eikou ( talk) 20:13, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
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Find sources: Google ( books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
![]() | This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's
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![]() | It is requested that a photograph of headquarters at 402 Industrial Lane Birmingham, Alabama 35211 be
included in this article to
improve its quality.
The external tool WordPress Openverse may be able to locate suitable images on Flickr and other web sites. |
Is this still considered a stub, or can the "stub" label be removed?
If anyone likes the black logo I had up there, here's the picture:
Image:Hdr bam on black.gif
I went to the Books-A-Million corporate website, and found no mention of the Books & Company division for the company. So, I'm guessing it was phased out at some point, though I don't have a reference for when that might have happened. If anyone out there has info, bring it on! — ArkansasTraveler 18:55, 29 December 2005 (UTC)
Actually, Books & Company still operates, out of Kettering, Ohio. It was originally an independent store that was purchased by Books-A-Million. At one point, I believe BAM opened a second Books & Company in Alabama, but that one went out of business. A second Books & Company will be opening in the Dayton area in the fall.
Hi, I am new here so I don't know how to address this personally but the Joe Muggs link is redirecting to Starbucks. Starbucks is a competitor. It probably shouldn't redirect to Starbucks even if there is no Joe Muggs page. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.168.209.148 ( talk) 07:25, 12 April 2007 (UTC).
Image:Hdr bam on black.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot 05:08, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
Image:Hdr bam on black.gif is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot 05:11, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
Can't find much 3rd party on AWBC. I know they used to fill for Wal-Mart and some for Target. Do they still? Also, is AWBC hq'd in Florence, AL, or in TN? I thought the former, but ran across a couple references to the latter. -- BizMgr ( talk) 16:18, 30 January 2008 (UTC)
I had posted a rather large history section from answers.com, and it was deleted seemingly spontaneously. Any explanation for that? It was a copy and paste job, but I was under the impression that objective historical fact was fair game for such practice. What would I have to do to get a history section in to the liking of the wiki community? Eikou 10:13, 18 January 2011
History
The earliest roots of Books-A-Million are found in a newspaper stand in 1917. Clyde W. Anderson, ancestor to the current executive leadership in the company, found a unique niche in the newspaper business by providing transient construction workers with papers from their hometowns. Business in this front was good enough to allow the young man and his brother to open a book shop. Clyde's son Charles C. Anderson inherited the bookstore in 1950, and began a chain of bookstores known as "Bookland". Bookland stores were commonly found in shopping malls, which were growing rapidly in popularity during the 1970's.
The first Books-A-Million opened in 1988 in Huntsville Alabama, and action taken in response to the surge of big brand bookstores that were growing in popularity across the United States. This store was a sharp contrast to its predecessors, spanning 30,000 square feet of selling space, and various other types of merchandise as well as books. Books-A-Million maintained a small town, regional focus in a time where most stores were gaining a more national, metropolitan focus. These small towns were not able to support a book store that sold only books, but the Books-A-Million model proved profitable.
In 1992, the company went public on the NASDAQ exchange. This was the time when they finally officially changed their name from Bookland to Books-A-Million. Expanding on their "bookstore and more" model, they offered frequent in-store activities such as book signings and readings. They also adopted Joe Muggs coffee shops, and included them in the bookstore. The focus was to illicit an environment where books could be enjoyed.
Books-A-Million entered the e-commerce world in 1999 when they published their own website and began online dealings of hard merchandise such as books, audiobooks, radio shows, etc. as well as digital merchandise.
Under this model, the stores continued to grow. Today there are over 200 stores across the southeastern US. Books-A-Million continues to look towards expanding beyond being "just a book store", and has recently struck a deal with Yogurt Mountain as well as spawning a spin-off company, 2nd and Charles.
(Penderson, Jay P. (2011). International Directory of Company Histories. MI: Cengage Learning. ISBN 1-4144-6881-4.)
I wouldn't doubt that there are factual bits of information in your proposed addition, but there is also much else in there. The manner in which it is written, taken after the source itself, is not particularly encyclopedic. E.g. ...
Then there is the remaining question about what the true source of the information is in the first place. I won't dispute that basic facts can be reliably sourced from this book. Those facts would include the dates at the company official expanded in this or that way, etc. However, the added fluffery and subjective claims made by the source are not usable. Griswaldo ( talk) 20:21, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
I wouldn't doubt that there are factual bits of information in your proposed addition, but there is also much else in there. The manner in which it is written, taken after the source itself, is not particularly encyclopedic. E.g. ...
* Clyde W. Anderson, ancestor to the current executive leadership in the company ...
-Ancestor to current leadership, as written. Meaningful because while he was not the Books-A-Million founder, he was the founder of the store that led to it, as it says as the article continues. How about something like "Clyde W. Anderson, the earliest company's first employee," or something like that?Eikou (talk) 20:43, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
* ...found a unique niche in the newspaper business by providing transient construction workers with papers from their hometowns...
-It was a unique niche based on the fact that the construction workers had not previously found a business willing to satisfy their need. It is a direct logical implication, self-evident in the text. The way the source tells this story does not stop it from being recorded fact by the source that we have every reason to believe is reliable. I'm open to rewording, but I can't think of how. Suggestion?Eikou (talk) 20:43, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
* Books-A-Million maintained a small town, regional focus in a time where most stores were gaining a more national, metropolitan focus.
-This was a comment that was made in the source. I'm not sure how you would call it PR. That would imply that one approach is for some reason superior to the other. What it is meant to say is that they did not grow outside the southeast. How about: "Books-A-Million expanded within the southeastern United States in areas that, by comparison to the country's more metropolitan areas, had low population density." or something like that? Eikou (talk) 20:43, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
-I am of course happy to oblige in the area of working out the needless fluffery. Language convention and good rhetoric calls for expanding the data from chart form into sentence form. When you write this, it makes it seem like you want there to be only a bullet list of dates and facts, which is not the way Wikipedia articles are written (mostly). I'm sure that's not what you're asking for, but perhaps if you could tell me a bit more specifically what changes you'd like to see... Please do provide your suggested edits of the problem sentences if you have thoughts.
-In a circumstance like this, it would have been more helpful to move them or reply to them rather than erase them and ignore them. Eikou ( talk) 22:10, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
I've asked for input on the book reliability question at the Reliable Sources Noticeboard. See Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard#Books-A-Million_history_sourcing. Cheers. Griswaldo ( talk) 22:19, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
Sounds good. Assuming it comes back reliable, we'll be in agreement? Then would I post the proposed addition or would you? Eikou ( talk) 22:22, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
I'm considering a different approach to this. I've been researching, and I see that Books-A-Million the corporation has several... subsidiaries I think you'd call them? They own other companies... I'm not sure my business lingo is exactly right. Anyway, I was thinking of making the main article about the corporation alone, then creating a second section called "subsidiaries" (or whatever the right word is), with a sub-section for each of their 7 businesses and a small entry for each. They are:
I thought this seemed like a solid idea since it's already suggested that Joe Muggs be merged with BAM. Of course, it goes without saying that each subsection would have 2-3 sources for referencing and completely original writing. I noticed that there's already a Bookland article though. Should this one be merged or perhaps linked? (On a more personal side note, I'm beginning to see how people get addicted to this. The rigorous wiki process definitely has its draw.) Eikou ( talk) 23:21, 19 January 2011 (UTC)
After a brief talk with TransporterMan, I understand much better what the page needs to consist of. He recommended I avoid phrases such as "The premier bookseller", which makes tons of sense to me. He also said the previous source would probably be acceptable (if unchallenged), as long as it all I pull from it is objective data and not fluffy sentences that contain phrases like the one mentioned. I feel the rewrite will be much more encyclopedic in nature. I plan to post it today, so please be on the lookout. Eikou ( talk) 15:39, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
Alright it's posted! Please review. I added a Joe Muggs section. I wasn't quite sure about the merger procedure, so I left the merge tag as well. If it seems good to the next editor, It seems to me the tag can be removed, and the Joe Muggs entry can redirect to the section Eikou ( talk) 20:13, 20 January 2011 (UTC)
![]() |
An image used in this article,
File:Bamstore.jpg, has been nominated for speedy deletion at
Wikimedia Commons for the following reason: Copyright violations
|
Speedy deletions at commons tend to take longer than they do on Wikipedia, so there is no rush to respond. If you feel the deletion can be contested then please do so (
commons:COM:SPEEDY has further information). Otherwise consider finding a replacement image before deletion occurs.
This notification is provided by a Bot -- CommonsNotificationBot ( talk) 23:19, 26 July 2011 (UTC) |