Regional book retailer with 200+ stores scaling data infrastructure and inventory optimization
Books A Million operates a multi-channel retail footprint across 32 states with a secondary brand (2nd & Charles) in 18 states, anchored by legacy wholesale operations in Alabama. The company is mid-market in scale (5K–10K employees) but punching above typical retail maturity: active work on a modern data lakehouse (Redshift, BigQuery, Airflow, Prefect, Dagster, Fivetran) combined with persistent inventory management friction across the business. Hiring velocity is accelerating, with ops and data roles leading — a signal that supply-chain and analytics infrastructure are becoming competitive edges.
Books A Million is the second-largest book retailer in the United States, operating more than 200 stores across 32 states plus an e-commerce channel at Booksamillion.com. The company also owns 2nd & Charles, a new and used bookstore chain with more than 40 locations in 18 states. Founded in 1917 as a street-corner newsstand in Florence, AL, the company maintains its wholesale and distribution subsidiary, American Wholesale Book Company, in Alabama. The core business spans in-store retail, online sales, and wholesale distribution; current initiatives include store expansion, product line development, social media marketing, and school partnerships. Internal focus is on inventory optimization and sales forecasting to improve margins across the network.
SQL, AS/400, and Infor ERP for core operations; AWS, Azure, GCP, Redshift, BigQuery for data warehousing; Apache Airflow, Prefect, Dagster, Fivetran for data pipelines; Tableau and Power BI for analytics; Fortinet and Palo Alto Networks for security; Dayforce for HR; Monday.com and Basecamp for collaboration.
Birmingham, Alabama. The company also maintains its wholesale and distribution operations in Florence, Alabama, where it was founded in 1917.
Other companies in the same industry, closest in size