Does anybody remember the Waldenbook book club cards?

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Teyrnon

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Does anybody remember the Waldenbook book club cards from the 1980s? I started thinking about this after finding my Waldenbooks Preferred Reader card from the '90s. I had the OtherWorlds card back when and fondly remember the Xignals newsletter. Now, I find myself wondering what the other genre cards were cards and their associated newsletters were called. I don't suppose anyone remembers?
 
I barely remember the cards but I loved that store. Fond memories of browsing the RPG section and comic book spinners.
 
Oh yes, I think I still have mine in a box of old papers.

Loved the RPG and comics/graphic novel sections in the 90s.
 
I did I loved it. I hated them ending the program for the Preferred reader card (admittedly if you had your Otherworlds card it was still usable. They just didn't continue offering it.)

I would tell you how much I loath the PR card, but I don't want to write that many pages of descriptors right now. In short, it was mostly a scam on people, as a huge number never made it worthwhile to own/pay for, and Waldens/B.daltons and their "Big Box" stores Borders/Barnes and Nobles respectively didn't accept them. Despite the same companies owning W/Borders, and B/BN.

I worked for one of the smaller non-big box stores, and I hated the damn things after a while because they wanted you to push it so badly. Because (scam), they made more money off you than you'd actually save unless you were like me with books--buying a big stack every month.

It got really bad, to the point I just got so tired of worrying about selling them, I quit the damn store (plus being skipped over for management twice, for someone else who didn't last long the final time.) When it was finally offered, I turned it down I was quitting soon but they didn't know that, because I'd been skipped a month before for someone who stressed out working 40 hours a week.) I was working full time AND going to class full time, and that month difference meant I couldn't drop down to half time in school and been assistant manager. They showed me school was more important, a shame I got stupid chasing girls then and messing that up.

But. It sucked when they basically worried more about selling the cards, than books, you know the entire reason the store was there? This is why I don't feel bad about buying novels from Amazon (or local small used/new bookstores.)
 
Oh yes, I think I still have mine in a box of old papers.

Loved the RPG and comics/graphic novel sections in the 90s.
I was the one who got a lot of that stuff in for my store and sold it because I was GOOD at customer service for you know, books. Now, I can't do anything like that anymore.
 
Yeah, the Preferred Reader card wasn't a good deal unless you were spending in excess of $200 there a year. (Assuming I remember correctly that the yearly fee was $10.) They continued to accept the Other Worlds cards for a while but eventually stopped. Which I think was more a matter of nobody among the currently working there having seen it before.

Most of the people I've spoken to who worked at Waldenbooks during the '90s absolutely hated the cards because of the insane pressure the higher-ups put on employees to sell the cards.
 
I would have started out asking, "Does anybody remember Waldenbooks?" :hehe:
Why? I was banking on the near certainty that many people here, like me, have fond memories of Waldenbooks. As a kid, it was a must-stop for me whenever I found myself at the mall. I bought my first D&D module there among other things. Best of all, there was a Waldenbooks & More near a cloth store my mother frequently visited...
 
I discovered a few books from reading Xignals that I otherwise wouldn't have looked at. There were other clubs for other genres like mystery and romance that I didn't pay attention to. My passions lay with science fiction and fantasy back then. It still is but I'm much more diverse in my reading choices nowadays. Now, I'm wondering what those other cards were called and if they also had newsletters like Xignals.
 
I had an Other Worlds card, and up until the late 99s I had several issues of Xignas ratted away.

There was also a Mystery card, and while I never saw a newsletter for it, they sometimes had handouts in stores for. Strangely, the ones I picked up seemed like they were aimed at children, rather than adults, as they’d have things like hidden pictures, and black & white pictures you could color in...which I did.

I’d like to take this opportunity to publicly lament being terrible shy in 1990 and not asking my local Waldenbooks if I could have their cardboard endcap Torg display when they were going to throw it out. I’m an utter Torg fanboy, and while I have several promotional rarities (and a cover painting) I still feel like I need that display to put part of my Torg collection in.
 
There was also a Mystery card, and while I never saw a newsletter for it, they sometimes had handouts in stores for. Strangely, the ones I picked up seemed like they were aimed at children, rather than adults, as they’d have things like hidden pictures, and black & white pictures you could color in...which I did.
That's interesting. I never really looked at the other newsletters that much. I didn't develop a taste for Mystery and other genres until I was in college. In my teen years, my interests in reading were narrowly focused on science fiction and fantasy so I only ever paid attention to Xignals. I was aware of the other clubs but barely glanced at the posters for them.
 
Properly, you got 10% off with the PR card, and registering it for a year was 10. (of everything but I think sales magazines.)
Then for every 100USD, you spend you got a 5 dollar coupon, but your first purchase counted double to the 100 level. It turned out to only really viable if your first purchase was 60+ dollars because of the doubling and the coupon you got a bit later. Later they changed it to 15 sub fee, and a larger coupon, or something.
 
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