Kudzu Book Traders of Cartersville, Ga., closing doors

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. - Kudzu Book Traders, one of the largest remainder and bargain book dealers in the South, is closing its doors,
according to Britt Hinton, the firm’s president....
Hinton said of the closing, “It is with deep regret that I inform you of our plan to close Kudzu Book Traders by the end of first quarter 2008. Due to the untimely death of Steve Wilson, the lack of required resources for future growth and the uncertain business environment we have come to this very difficult decision. Our goal is to fulfill our current obligations and work closely with our

lending institution, vendors and customers during this process. We will continue our operation over the next couple of months in order to reduce inventory, fulfill orders and handle all necessary business requirements. We are inviting all customers to visit our warehouse to help close-out our inventory.”
Kudzu was created by Atlanta entrepreneur Steve Wilson to be the sister company of Academic Book Services. The two companies jointly occupied two warehouses in Cartersville with more than 270,000 square feet and employed 148 full-time and many more part-time employees until Wilson and his partner sold Academic Book Services in November 2006 to Follett Educational Services of Woodridge, Ill.
.Among Kudzu’s biggest customers were Barnes & Noble, Borders, Walden Books, Hastings and Books-A-Million. A “big deal” for the firm might be anywhere from 10,000 to 1,000,000 books, or even more.