The 775 B&M stores are weighing them down:
http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/techto...nes-noble.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...126494128.html
Quote:
|
Meanwhile, it still has 775 costly brick-and-mortar stores (as of October 2009) to maintain nationwide. As a Standard & Poor's analyst told The Wall Street Journal, “closing stores would make sense,” especially if digital sales keep growing. Barnes & Noble is smart to throw resources at digital distribution, and its Nook certainly has Amazon’s attention. But its 12-month-old e-bookstore and 8-month-old Nook may have come too late to the game.
|
Quote:
|
Compared with the same quarter in 2009, the company spent $180 million more on sales and occupancy, $59 million more on interest, and $31 million more on administration.
|
They know they need to aggressively grow their ebook business and they seem to be doing well, there. But they also need to phase out the B&M money pits and at 6-10 a year they're hardly making a dent there.
Check this, from *last* summer:
http://www.observer.com/2009/media/u...-be-empty-week
Quote:
|
Although the store was crowded, the check-out line was short. People were seated at kiddie-size chairs and tables, where they did more reading than buying. One customer expressed his doubt that the store will bring better and much bigger things to the book business. “It’ll look empty in a week,” he muttered to his friend, “it’s too big!”
|
Basically, there's still too much "borders" and not enough "amazon" in their business plan.