I love Barnes & Noble because
- I love my Nook
- I can buy discounted gift cards using Discover cashback and use them for ebooks
- They use the industry standard epub format and easily breakable Adobe-based DRM
That said, I haven't been inside a B&N store in nearly a year. The last time I went in one was to look at the then brand new Nook Glowlight, to decide if I wanted to buy one online or not (I eventually bought one used for cheap on Craigslist instead). Losing the brick and mortar stores is no big loss, at least for me. Even losing the nook readers and ebook store wouldn't be a mortal blow, since hackers have rooted all of the readers and I can buy books anywhere and rip/convert as needed (or not, if I buy from an Adobe-based store).
I'd be sad to see B&N go, and it would mean the end to any sort of competition for Kindle (Kobo tries, but they're just not on the same playing field), but it's not the end of the world.