Joseph-Beth Opens in Pittsburgh's 'Lifestyle Center'

The new Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Pittsburgh.

Joseph-Beth Booksellers has opened its seventh store -- this one in Pittsburgh -- the independent chain's first in Pennsylvania. Owner and founder of the 18-year-old Joseph-Beth Group, Neil Van Uum, operates three other stores under the Joseph-Beth name in Lexington, Kentucky, and Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio. Under the Davis-Kidd name -- the Tennessee-based bookseller which the Joseph-Beth Group acquired in 1997 -- are three more stores: one each in Nashville, Jackson, and Memphis. An eighth store, to be located in Charlotte, North Carolina, is scheduled to open in 2005.

According to the new store's marketing manager, Katherine Lally, Pittsburgh's Joseph-Beth Booksellers - South Side Works, opened last Wednesday with considerable fanfare. "We had scheduled an appearance by [bestselling author] Janet Evanovich for the first day, and she always creates a big party wherever she goes. We had a huge crowd. The last ticket we distributed was number 550. People started lining up at 8:00 a.m."

A fountain in the store's "Wellness" section.

Pittsburgh, once renowned for its steel production, is undergoing a cultural and economic renaissance. Lally said that the new store's location in the South Side Works is a 34-acre mixed-use development project built on the site of a former Jones & Laughlin steel mill. On the same day Joseph-Beth opened its 26,000-square-foot store, Kenneth Cole and Urban Outfitters also opened. Lally told BTW that developers and urban planners term the area a "lifestyle center" with movie theaters, condos, office buildings, lots of green space, and a mix of national and local businesses. "The city is also building a riverfront park right here, which will be terrific for us," she noted.

The eclectic mix of retailers and restaurants in the area draw from Pittsburgh's student population of approximately 100,000. Major institutions, including Carnegie-Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, and Duquesne University, are close by, and many suburban shoppers can make use of tunnels that bring them to the downtown in minutes. Three parking garages are currently operating at the center.

The new Joseph-Beth's cashier station.

Lally, a Pittsburgh native, visited other Joseph-Beth stores as part of her management training and found that "each store has its own personality and connection to its community. In our store, designers used a lot of touches that are a nod to Pittsburgh's industrial past -- the concrete floors are spray painted a coppery color. When you enter the store, you first pass the regional section. We're starting out in December with events featuring a number of local authors and historians." --Nomi Schwartz