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Originally Posted by fjtorres
All true.
Minor point: B&N could have broken leases at any time over the past few years by going through a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy "rinse". (Under Section 365(b) of the bankruptcy Code.) They chose not to for reasons of their own.
B&N has never been a complete zombie; they just refused to do what was necessary to save the company. There is still room in the market for megastores--a couple dozen--but the other 600 or so need to shrink down to the old WaldenBooks size and focus on local tastes.
Check this: http://www.jcsimonds.com/2019/06/09/...by-hedge-fund/
So far, Daunt has said the right things...
...with one (scary) exception: he said he thinks the US is "under-bookshopped". That they need *more* stores.
That is only technically true: UK population density and demographic distribution is different is different. Trying to *grow* B&N to Waterstones' store/population ratio would require as many as 3000 stores. Not viable. Even independents are barely holding on at a third that count. (Even counting stores that aren't traditional bookstores.)
He may have had something else in mind, hopefully.
Still, going hyperlocal and dropping payola should help a lot. Just not immediately. Biting the bullet and doing the rinse, shrinking to 200-300 and growing from there would. They might be able to IPO by 2022-23 that way. |
It all depends on what B&N's business model is. I think that if they go back to the model they used some 10 to 15 years ago, i.e. a bookstore that encouraged browsing and hanging out, i.e. the social aspects of reading, and was focused on what dedicated readers want, then they might have a pretty good shot at things. There are still a lot of people out there who like to read and aren't really into eBooks. Heck, I might even start going back there if they fill that social void as well as some other aspects that Amazon isn't particularly good at. I'm not sure how profitable it would be though. Certainly, it would have to be focused on a premium experience to get people to get out of the house and into the store.