If you aren't growing you are dying. That's just the way it is. This company is on the way out. It doesn't make much sense to devote so much square footage to paper books....it just doesn't. If digital books takeover, who's buying books at the store? This company still isn't profitable with the Nook at a very significant market share. How much volume do they need to be profitable? Twice the current levels? Sales at Nook collapsed in the Christmas quarter, so I don't think the ship is turning around. They aren't just fighting Amazon and Apple, they are fighting every single other tablet maker...including Samsung.
If the digital strategy succeeds then the physical stores are screwed, dragging down the company. If the digital strategy fails it's not like the stores are going to save them.
They can't win. It's over.
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