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I loved B&N for a long time, but the clueless management decisions have really put a nail in the coffin for me. I bought 4 devices from them because they offered something competition didn't. Expandable storage, screen resolution high enough to read comfortably, integration with an existing book store I went past regularly, these were all selling points. B&N management has systematically stripped them away to chase becoming an Amazon clone.
That entirely misses the point of competition! B&N can't outspend Amazon, can't offer as deep network of content as Amazon, doesn't have the infrastructure of Amazon. They needed to establish their own brand quickly enough to capture a fast-moving market, and utterly failed to do so.
Now I don't think there's any real hope. The chain's going to survive in some fashion, but I can't imagine ever spending hours in a B&N with my kids like my parents did with me.
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