Quote:
Originally Posted by darryl
I don't think it much matters whether they are MBA heavy or not. Amazon will act rationally on a cost/benefit basis. It needs to worry about anti-trust law, first in the strict sense and if that is okay then in an expanded sense of just how difficult an environment they will face from complaints, allegations, enquiries etc. Personally I can't see them lifting a hand to help B&N. B&N have nothing they want, not even their physical stores which are much too big for Amazon's model, unless Amazon perhaps want to combine them with Wholefoods, their experimental supermarkets etc., though I doubt it.
B&N might be a good investment for the large trade publishers, perhaps even as a joint venture. This would of course not endear them to independent bookstores. Also, given the bad decisions and lack of vision shown since Amazon came on the scene, there is absolutely no reason to believe they could run it successfully.
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I agree that Amazon will, and probably SHOULD act rationally on a cost/benefit basis as regards this matter. But in all honesty, I don't care about the long term health or even continued existence of Barnes & Noble. I don't see how they have helped my community culturally. Or even promoted the idea of reading in general.
Before Barnes & Noble, there were four bookstores in our small city of 100,000 people. There were two locally owned shops and 2 corporate bookstores. A couple of years after B&N coming to town, the locally owned shops were gone, and 2 years after that, the smaller corporate shops were gone. Maybe those shops would have closed eventually, anyway, but I know we went from 4 shops, each with a very different character, to a single large shop with a single, bland, fake "hip & happening", character.
I don't see Barnes & Noble as any sort of community asset. They have about the same value to the community as the local "Olive Garden" restaurant. Whatever happens, happens I guess. I don't wish them ill, but I don't owe them any support, either.