How Barnes & Noble Came Back From Near Dead

[Ntsimp]

As far as I'm concerned, no one has yet come up with a replacement for the experience of discovering new books by wandering the physical bookshelves, whether at a bookstore or a library. It's why I still love Barnes & Noble. Amazon can't do that. Goodreads can't do it. I suppose it's possible in principle, but it hasn't happened yet.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Ntsimp

As far as I'm concerned, no one has yet come up with a replacement for the experience of discovering new books by wandering the physical bookshelves, whether at a bookstore or a library. It's why I still love Barnes & Noble. Amazon can't do that. Goodreads can't do it. I suppose it's possible in principle, but it hasn't happened yet.

I don't miss it in the least. In fact, I miss absolutely nothing about paper books.

There are several large, comfy bookstores in my home city. But I rarely visit them. I prefer to discover and buy books online. And I buy a paper book only when there is no ebook edition and I passionately want to read it. Which doesn't happen often.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I don't miss it in the least. In fact, I miss absolutely nothing about paper books.

There are several large, comfy bookstores in my home city. But I rarely visit them. I prefer to discover and buy books online. And I buy a paper book only when there is no ebook edition and I passionately want to read it. Which doesn't happen often.

Same.

In my case the nearest bookstores are an hour or more drive. I haven't been in one for many years.

And discovering books online is far more productive than wandering through a bookstore or library ever was.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Ntsimp

As far as I'm concerned, no one has yet come up with a replacement for the experience of discovering new books by wandering the physical bookshelves, whether at a bookstore or a library. It's why I still love Barnes & Noble. Amazon can't do that. Goodreads can't do it. I suppose it's possible in principle, but it hasn't happened yet.

My wallet disagrees with you.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I'm going to call BS on this. When was the last time you went to your local B&N?

The giant B&N in my area has pulled their music and movie section and filled it with books. The upstairs seating area was removed to be filled with books.

Last week. You want me to take photos?


And yeah, music and movie section is gone. But I could've predicted that, as for five years I feel like I was the only person ever in there. Nobody's gonna impulse buy a Criterion Blu-ray for 40 bucks a pop anyway. It now seems to be the spot where they moved their coffee table books, sushi preparation kits, ukuleles, and so forth...

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

...music and movie section is gone... It now seems to be the spot where they moved their coffee table books, sushi preparation kits, ukuleles, and so forth...

And what is in those spots the sushi preparation kits and soforth used to be?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Ntsimp

As far as I'm concerned, no one has yet come up with a replacement for the experience of discovering new books by wandering the physical bookshelves, whether at a bookstore or a library. It's why I still love Barnes & Noble. Amazon can't do that. Goodreads can't do it. I suppose it's possible in principle, but it hasn't happened yet.

Goodreads is now an Amazon marketing hub.
Mills&Boon (Harlequin) now do more ebooks than printed.
There is very small selection in the physical book stores now. I still visit but spend less time. Sort of research.

[Cactus Chef]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

And what is in those spots the sushi preparation kits and soforth used to be?

All of the stationary stuff that used to hang out next to the checkout line: colored pencils, writing/journaling accessories, and motivational mugs, if memory serves.

[rcentros]

I'm happy B&N is making a comeback of sorts. Though, while they're opening 30 stores, there was an aside (in other article) that they will be "opening more than they close in 2023" — so I'm guessing some of the really big (half empty) stores will be going away.

https://bookriot.com/barnes-noble-op...tores-in-2023/

The writer of the article isn't as old as I am. I remember when Barnes & Noble came in and displaced B. Dalton, Waldenbooks, Pickwick and the local (downtown) independent book stores. So, although I enjoyed going to B&N in their heyday, I'm not quite as nostalgic as the writer.

One of my favorite book hangouts (for a while) was Hastings, a regional book/music/video store that went out of business a few years back.

Since I was often there till closing time I remember their friendly way of letting you know they were going to close. Completely unlike the snarky "We're closing in 10 minutes, get the hell out of here" announcements you'll find in many retail stores now (like Walmart).

Here's the actual closing music (with announcements)...

https://soundcloud.com/hastingsalumn...stings-closing

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

It came back from near dead by becoming a freaking toy store that sells books on the side. I am not sure that's a great thing.

That's not bad. I haven't been in one lately having moved, but they also have/had a great selection of hard to find DVD/BD discs and CDs. They were a bit pricier than some, but they had an awesome selection. Still do for books. We also got our Christmas cards from them, having a nice selection usually greatly discounted just after Christmas.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by rcentros

The writer of the article isn't as old as I am. I remember when Barnes & Noble came in and displaced B. Dalton, Waldenbooks, Pickwick and the local (downtown) independent book stores. So, although I enjoyed going to B&N in their heyday, I'm not quite as nostalgic as the writer.

Well, to be fair, B. Dalton was owned by Barnes and Noble. So they would close B. Dalton when they opened one of their larger Barnes and Noble stores in the same area. The same was true of Waldenbooks/Borders.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Well, to be fair, B. Dalton was owned by Barnes and Noble. So they would close B. Dalton when they opened one of their larger Barnes and Noble stores in the same area. The same was true of Waldenbooks/Borders.

While that seems logical there was once both a Coles and Indigo bookstores in the Toronto Eaton Centre just a few blocks from The World's Biggest Bookstore which at the time were all owned by Indigo. These days only the Indigo remains.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

While that seems logical there was once both a Coles and Indigo bookstores in the Toronto Eaton Centre just a few blocks from The World's Biggest Bookstore which at the time were all owned by Indigo. These days only the Indigo remains.

And there used to be a Starbucks on every corner of an intersection. Not sure of your point. A company that spends money competing against itself isn't a smart company.

[Renate]

I never dug those café/bookstores.
I just hated the mess and piles of books everywhere and people wandering with drinks.

I used to love serious bookstores, academic or foreign.

There was an era where you needed to buy all those 700 page tech "bibles".
Now all that documentation is online.

I haven't been in a bookstore in years.
I get no pleasure from trying to find something to read.
Admittedly I get even less pleasure searching for something to read in my online libraries.

Does somebody want to volunteer to be my curator to tell me what to read next?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Well, to be fair, B. Dalton was owned by Barnes and Noble. So they would close B. Dalton when they opened one of their larger Barnes and Noble stores in the same area. The same was true of Waldenbooks/Borders.

Not originally. B. Dalton was originally started by Bruce Dayton, one of the family in the Dayton's Department store chain. Dayton's merged with Hudson's department store and became Dayton-Hudson (now Target). B. Dalton did merge early on with Pickwick, but both names survived (for a while anyhow). In 1986 B. Dalton had 798 stores (its peak) and then it was bought by Barnes & Noble. From then on B. Dalton dwindled and finally died in 2010 (when the last 50 stores were closed by B&N).

Waldenbooks became part of Borders due to K-Mart buying both chains (which they originally kept separate) and then (finally) spinning them off as their own entity in 1994. In 1995 Borders/Waldenbooks were able to buy themselves out and become independent. In 2011 both Borders and Waldenbooks died, but they had been dwindling for a while.

I'm even more nostalgic about the home town independent book stores that couldn't compete with Barnes & Noble. They mostly went out of business well before B. Dalton's and Waldenbooks.