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Barnes and Noble is the only store that my kids will actively ask to go to and the only store that they don't fuss and groan over when we announce we are going. (Well, that and the Lego Store, but the nearset Lego store is over an hour away and buried inside a mall. B&N can be seen from the road and they point out Every Single One.)
I think there is a place for B&M book stores. I understand why they are hard to stock, but I have been hoping that stores would come up with a way to balance electronic and traditional books in the same space. B&N seemed like they might, when they offered free NOOK book browsing inside their stores. (I could never do it, because of the constant interruptions; my kids like to share their finds with me, and with three of them, it's a non-stop merry go round of interruptions.)
The thing with B&N, is that they stores don't/can't match their own online prices, so whenever we find a book, I check B&N online, and if they are cheaper there, I order them, instead of purchasing in the store. That doesn't seem to be a good model for supporting b&m stores, does it? It's not like my account has a favorite store that gets credit for my purchases.
There is an independent bookstore two storefronts down from the studio where my kids get their music lessons; we stop in about twice a month or so. While the kids are browsing, I browse too and often find books that I want to buy for myself as an ebook. When I remember, I may eventrually buy it from Kobo -- using the affiliate link for my local independent bookstore -- but I wish I could just take the copy to the register with my kids' books and request the epub version and purchase them together. It would show those stores how much they could gain supporting ebooks, while continuing to attract customers that prefer browsing physical books. They would need to have support from an ebook retailer who was willing to give them a good incentive.
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