Barnes & Noble Shares Down 45% in 12 Months

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

IMPO, B&N won out as much because they catered to readers as anything else. It was a great place to go, relax, browse, get some books and then sit and read with a cup of coffee. The staff was generally very knowledgeable and friendly. The draw was as much social as anything else.

B&N won out because they owned B. Dalton and Borders owned Waldenbooks. When they saw their big stores as the future, they closed the small ones.

I used to work at the local B&N for fun. Besides us, there was a Waldenbooks inside the mall. A competing mall was built across the street and one of the anchor stores was going to be a Borders, prompting Waldenbooks to close.

The general public didn't know that and I had to deal with many angry people that would come to the information booth just to tell me they were mad we had run Waldenbooks out of business.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I really don't know that smaller stores is the answer.

I would bet it mainly has to do with reducing their overhead costs. Also, they said they want more of a focus on books. If you were to take one of their larger stores and cut the café, music/video, toys and tchotchkes, they'd cut their floor space quite a bit.

Since people have replied to my comments, here is the article I mentioned up-thread:

Why Barnes & Noble Wants Smaller Stores

[Pizza_Cant_Read]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

B&N won out because they owned B. Dalton and Borders owned Waldenbooks. When they saw their big stores as the future, they closed the small ones.

I used to work at the local B&N for fun. Besides us, there was a Waldenbooks inside the mall. A competing mall was built across the street and one of the anchor stores was going to be a Borders, prompting Waldenbooks to close.

The general public didn't know that and I had to deal with many angry people that would come to the information booth just to tell me they were mad we had run Waldenbooks out of business.

Just curious - was there a way you could pass on that feedback to the company? When I began my career in IT I appreciated that every call was accounted for. I usually assume giving comments to in-store personnel is energy lost in the wind

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Pizza_Cant_Read

Just curious - was there a way you could pass on that feedback to the company? When I began my career in IT I appreciated that every call was accounted for. I usually assume giving comments to in-store personnel is energy lost in the wind

Well, to be fair to B&N, the information booth isn't really intended to handle mistaken complaints based on another company's business decisions I would tell the people it was because the store owner was building a bigger store in the new place across the street.

Now, if you are asking about the possibility to pass genuine complaints/suggestions on, I could tell my supervisor about them.

Really the typical inquiry was along the lines of 'what author wrote Brokeback Mountain, and do you have the book in stock?' (that was a big movie when I worked there) or 'I can't find Valley of the Dolls. Do you know if the Willowbrook store has it in stock?'

One compliment I will give to the store I worked at. We had the Waldenbooks (and later Borders) number handy and would call to see if they had a book that we didn't. Of course we could order the book, but so could Amazon. The customer is at a store because they want it now.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Pizza_Cant_Read

Smaller stores (In shopping areas as opposed to a bookstore set apart from businesses, requiring one to travel expressly for the purpose of visiting said store) would increase visibility and encourage visits. Netflix contributed to Blockbuster going out of business but people still dig through the DVD bins in their local supermarket.

Also, I thought B.Dalton and Waldenbooks complemented each other well. This was back in the late 90s so I obviously don't have as much experience as most of you but I seem to remember B. Dalton having more non-fiction and Waldenbooks having the fiction. Maybe they didn't have all the books but I guess they were the only stores I had before I moved to a big city and I could always find/order anything I wanted. There was also a used bookstore in the older downtown shopping area outside the mall, about a block away. Between these three stores and the library I never felt like I was missing out on anything.

Of course it doesn't compare to my first trip to San Francisco, going to Berkeley and having an entire street full of used bookstores. It's a good thing I didn't have bills in those days

Your first statement makes no sense to me. Yes, B&N is a separate building or is sometimes the cornerstone store. I have yet to see one sitting off by itself in a non-shopping district. The one is Corpus Christi is surrounded by other big stores and restaurants. The one in Midland has a shoe store, not sure what other stores, Best Buy, Olive Garden, IHOP and the big stand alone building on the other end is the library. Now it is at the higher end of the shopping district. I just realized that. The mall is in the middle.
You could make a loop and hit all the big box stores. Half are on one side of the street and the other are on the other side. This includes 2 grocery stores, Sam's Club and Walmart.

[Tony1988]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

You just made me feel like a baby. I was 2 when you left the service.

I wasn't even a gleam yet.....whoo hoo...

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Your first statement makes no sense to me. Yes, B&N is a separate building or is sometimes the cornerstone store. I have yet to see one sitting off by itself in a non-shopping district. The one is Corpus Christi is surrounded by other big stores and restaurants. The one in Midland has a shoe store, not sure what other stores, Best Buy, Olive Garden, IHOP and the big stand alone building on the other end is the library. Now it is at the higher end of the shopping district. I just realized that. The mall is in the middle.
You could make a loop and hit all the big box stores. Half are on one side of the street and the other are on the other side. This includes 2 grocery stores, Sam's Club and Walmart.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was referring to a smaller bookstore that could fit between a Gap and a Lego store.

I miss the days of the smaller bookstores. A mall without a bookstore doesn't feel right to me and to be honest, I would be hard pressed to say that the big Barnes and Noble stores serve me better than the old B. Dalton, Walden Books and Crown Books did.

I will admit, nostalgia may be coloring my memories.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was referring to a smaller bookstore that could fit between a Gap and a Lego store.

I miss the days of the smaller bookstores. A mall without a bookstore doesn't feel right to me and to be honest, I would be hard pressed to say that the big Barnes and Noble stores serve me better than the old B. Dalton, Walden Books and Crown Books did.

I will admit, nostalgia may be coloring my memories.

Just shut up now as we have neither a Gap nor a Lego store. You are spoiled living near that mall. Though agreeing a small bookstore in the mall would be nice.
The Odessa mall does have one great thing the Midland mall doesn't. Indoor playgrounds.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Just shut up now as we have neither a Gap nor a Lego store. You are spoiled living near that mall. Though agreeing a small bookstore in the mall would be nice.
The Odessa mall does have one great thing the Midland mall doesn't. Indoor playgrounds.

We have a high end mall and the lovely weather of a diseased swamp.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

We have a high end mall and the lovely weather of a diseased swamp.

Since you are down there: do you need me to send you a jacket? It appears the OP and I decided to send you and my mother an early Christmas present of some nice cold weather.
I saw it might snow in Corpus Christi tonight.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Since you are down there: do you need me to send you a jacket? It appears the OP and I decided to send you and my mother an early Christmas present of some nice cold weather.
I saw it might snow in Corpus Christi tonight.

No, I'm fine. I appreciate the cold weather. I can wear all the warm, long sleeved clothes I like. It'll hit 80 again before Christmas, I'm sure.

I'm from California, but really I'd like living in an area with colder weather, like Seattle.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was referring to a smaller bookstore that could fit between a Gap and a Lego store.

I miss the days of the smaller bookstores. A mall without a bookstore doesn't feel right to me and to be honest, I would be hard pressed to say that the big Barnes and Noble stores serve me better than the old B. Dalton, Walden Books and Crown Books did.

I will admit, nostalgia may be coloring my memories.

You are right "Hombre" 1967 (with Alan Ladd, "a solitary hero with a conscience"), if I may be so familiar. Dalton, Walden and some others in their day were as satisfying as any giant B&N or BAM are today.

I only go to the BAM in a nearby town to check out and peruse the magazines and the War and Science Fiction books I compete with and sometimes write a bit for as well. Book racks always bring to mind the "old world" that I grew up in, fought for, and sometimes miss too much.

[Pizza_Cant_Read]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

No, I'm fine. I appreciate the cold weather. I can wear all the warm, long sleeved clothes I like. It'll hit 80 again before Christmas, I'm sure.

I'm from California, but really I'd like living in an area with colder weather, like Seattle.

Seattle has warmed considerably since I first began 'living' there ten years ago. But having spent some time in Texas I see your point

And CinisaJoy, I lost track of the thread sorry. Don't have much else to say as ZodWallup summed it up and I seem to reminisce similarly in all these threads haha. But tbh, being a place where waxing sentimental isn't frowned upon is probably a big reason why MR a 'community' that I appreciate participating in.

-pcr

[GERGE]

At highschool, I used to go to the bookstore to buy a book once a week. As a highscool student, I had very little money. I used to browse for 1-2 hours before selecting something. Now, I only enter my local bookstore to buy ink.

[geekraver]

I work 2 minutes walk from a large B&N in a *very* affluent area (Bellevue, WA). I love spending a half hour in the store at lunch hour several times a week. The store wasn't exactly bustling a year ago but its positively dead now, with more staff than customers. There was a Starbucks semi-attached to it, and that has closed down - when all the other Starbucks in the area have a constant stream of customers. Every time I visit I am surprised it is still in business. Even I rarely buy books there - why would I pay full price when I can get Amazon to deliver the book to me next day for much less? And now there is an Amazon brick-and-mortar store 5 minutes walk away. It's soulless, and has 1/10th the selection, but its probably going to pull enough of the remaining business that we're talking days or weeks, not months, before the store shuts down.

Funny thing is, if B&N offered 20-25% off (without requiring payment for a loyalty program) I'd probably buy way more books there. So the solution could be staring them in the face. Half Price Books seems to have figured this out, as they have added new titles at a discount, and they seem to be thriving. But B&N stores won't even match their *own* online prices. If they fail its largely their own doing, IMO.