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Originally Posted by murraypaul
How many people still occasionally go to the bookstore, but don't find anything of interest?
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A better question might be: "How many people who used to occasionally or regularly go to the bookstore stopped doing so and are unlikely to return regardless of reason?"
My wife and I used to go to the local B&N at least weekly and sometimes more often. We stopped when we discovered that we could buy the same book for significantly less at B&N's online store. I wrote Riggio at the time and asked why a benefit of being a B&N member isn't getting the lower price, whether it be the online price of the bookstore price when shopping at the bookstore. The only response I got was that the online store was owned by a separate company, which was no answer at all, especially as you could return an online purchase to the local store.
Now, many years later it would make no sense to return to the local store to buy books because the local store either doesn't have the book I want in stock or won't sell it to me for the online price if the online price is less. There is no advantage to going to the local store.
Quote:
Originally Posted by murraypaul
If B&N can make their bookstores more relevant to their local audience, or more welcoming, maybe more of those people will actually buy something.
For people who have already abandoned physical bookstores, perhaps word of mouth or community initiatives, book clubs, coffee mornings, that sort of thing, to get people remembering that B&N is a thing that still exists, and might have something of interest.
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None of the things that you mention would be an incentive to go to the local store and buy. Nowadays, thanks to Amazon, price is what matters.