The endangered fate of Barnes & Noble, America’s last major book store chain
It is hard to imagine a destination like Union Station without a fully stocked bookstore, even if it is also the case that an increasing percentage of the consumer traffic is carrying a mobile reading device that is loaded with books purchased elsewhere, mainly from Amazon. The sprawling Barnes & Noble on Georgetown’s Wisconsin Avenue is gone, and the company has closed superstores in New York, Dallas, Chicago, and Seattle (among other places) in similarly well-situated locales as part of a broader brick and mortar contraction that suggests–disturbingly–its long-term decline. Barnes & Noble’s post-holiday report for 2012 reflected a drop in same-store sales of 3.1 percent, and despite a substantial push to expand its Nook line of e-readers, product sales for the devices were down 12.6 percent from a year ago. …
While holding on to ownership of nearly 80 percent of its Nook division, a $300 million investment in Nook from Microsoft last fall, followed by an $89.5 million commitment from Pearson, which sees value in the growing electronic textbook market, are signs that Barnes & Noble can forge a way to secure enough of the digital business to offset the problems it faces in traditional bookselling.
But the overall impression of Barnes & Noble’s situation in the book industry is not nearly as positive as its owners and investors would like to portray. Publisher’s Weekly reported last week that Barnes & Noble is in the midst of contentious negotiations over terms with Simon & Schuster. “Although the exact nature of the disagreement is not yet clear,” Publisher’s Weekly reported, “Barnes &Noble has significantly reduced its orders from S&S. The main reason for the cutback seems to be, according to sources, Barnes & Noble’s lack of support from S&S.” (One way or another, this means a dispute over the size of discounts and advertising.) Another factor for concern is the impending merger of Random House and Penguin, which is expected to give this corporate behemoth the ability to deal with Google’s Android ecosystem, and Apple’s consumer cachet as well as Amazon’s dominant position in online retailing. There was an initial belief that Borders’ bankruptcy would bring a substantial portion of its in-store business to Barnes & Noble, but that has not turned out to be the case.
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Shame – there’s nothing like reading an actual book, then passing it along. Can’t do that with an iPad.
OldEnglish on February 5, 2013 at 9:50 PM
Nook?
aryeung on February 5, 2013 at 9:51 PM
You “anti-tax” crusaders who allow Amazon to cheat on sales taxes are greatly responsible for this.
ninjapirate on February 5, 2013 at 9:54 PM
I have this recurring sci-fi nightmare in which we no longer have books; all information is stored digitally. Then, we have WW3 or something, and an EMP blast or cyberattack proceeds to erase half of recorded human history and classical literature. And then all those works are gone forever.
JimLennon on February 5, 2013 at 9:54 PM
I too feel that paper book is the way to go. Kids now a days dont know what pleasure it is to sit down and read page by page flipping page by page.
watertown on February 5, 2013 at 9:56 PM
I know. I’ve got some old books from the 1800s that belonged to my ancestors and they always signed the inside cover. I’ve even found pressed flowers in some. Same with letters. Kids today can’t even write cursively.
TxAnn56 on February 5, 2013 at 9:58 PM
Fahrenheit 451.
OldEnglish on February 5, 2013 at 9:59 PM
The best example of that, in some circles, is the Family Bible.
OldEnglish on February 5, 2013 at 10:01 PM
Don’t like those new fangled book thingys. I still prefer stone or clay tablets. You know what I learned to read on.
Oldnuke on February 5, 2013 at 10:02 PM
Null/set 0
LtGenRob on February 5, 2013 at 10:03 PM
Oh darn. Now where will I go when I want some aimless 20-something cashier to look down her nose at all my purchases?
John the Libertarian on February 5, 2013 at 10:04 PM
Yeah, sure buddy. Here’s a better idea: Eliminate sales tax on books and other periodicals. But ardent socialists like you have never met a tax they didn’t like, especially if it drives business into bankruptcy so you can blame the rich!
You want to see better outcomes for companies like Barnes & Noble? Cut the federal & state spending by 50%, reduce tax rates across the board by 50%. Cut sales taxes by 50%. Eliminate capital gains taxes, death taxes, interest income taxes, etc.
Eliminate 90% of federal and state regulations within every department & agency. Stop the bulk of foreign aid programs. Stop military assistance to nations that are not our allies. Eliminate all payments to the United Nations and withdraw our membership and boot it off our soil.
Do these things and you’ll be amazed at how our economy rebounds, and grows by leaps and bounds. But……. you don’t want that. What you want is America in chains so you can lord it over and impose your special brand of socialist hell on earth.
Cut the taxes. Get government out of our business and our economy. Stand back and watch it grow.
TKindred on February 5, 2013 at 10:04 PM
I guess I’m just old but I was shocked when I discovered that my grandsons are not being taught cursive.
First thing I thought of when I read that post. I love that book but haven’t read it in a long while.
Oldnuke on February 5, 2013 at 10:05 PM
Yes, for those hanging on to old monopolies and resisting the future, it probably is. Suck it up, oldstreammedia.
petefrt on February 5, 2013 at 10:06 PM
The nook is a dead end, The price of 7 inch tablets will be $50 in two years. There will be no reason to buy a kindle or nook when you can buy an open tablet and download an app that brings you all that content anyway. Look at the nexus 7 as a sign of what the future holds.
Amazon will survive, Barnes & Noble not so much.
jhffmn on February 5, 2013 at 10:07 PM
Self-inflicted.
Barnes & Noble is one of the chains which would hide the Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck and other Conservative authors’ best-sellers when those were topping the market. Books critical of Obongo or the Clintoons reputedly received a sneer when requested. I remember seeing customer reviews on the B&N website critical of pro-Clintoon or pro-Ogabe books get summarily delete just as comments on books pro-Palin or pro-Conservative issues were summarily deleted.
B&N is paying the same price in reputation and viewership as the Old Media networks with shills such as Steve Kroft, Bob Schieffer, Billy Moyers, Scott Pelley, Brian Williams, Gwen Ifill, Andrea Mitchell and George Stuffinenvelopes willing to whore themselves for any Liberal cause and misrepresent any Conservative cause.
viking01 on February 5, 2013 at 10:10 PM
This would be such a shame. You just can’t replace books.
gophergirl on February 5, 2013 at 10:10 PM
Slate and chalk – real modern.
OldEnglish on February 5, 2013 at 10:11 PM
The death of books can be (largely) attributed to bad royalty and copyright practices by the publishers. It’s the same thing as the death of physical music (CDs and cassettes). When the publishers decide to be nicer to the writers, print will make a comeback.
nobar on February 5, 2013 at 10:11 PM
Here’s a little glimpse from the inside. I’m an author. Mostly I sell ebooks. I sell most of my ebooks through Amazon. Recently I became an affiliate of Amazon (I sell Amazon books, ebooks, and products on my site for a percentage of the sale). My plan was then to become an affiliate of BN. For Amazon, it took about eight minutes to fill out the online doc and get signed up.
With BN, I had to go through a second company because they don’t have a direct affiliate program. So I signed up with the other company and waited two days to find out I had been accepted. Then I had to contact BN and request an application to their program. BN contacted me and asked for my site, my goals, and how I was going to use their program. I gave them all of that info, and they said they would get back to me. When they got back to me, they offered me an application, which I filled out. They said they would get back to me. That was three weeks ago, and I haven’t heard anything from them since.
For all its flaws (and there are many) Amazon knows how to get other people to sell their products. BN? Not so much.
UnderstandingisPower on February 5, 2013 at 10:16 PM
Or, bad business practices by same. It isn’t the royalty and copyright issues that are preventing books from selling. The royalty and copyright issues are causing many authors to self-publish, or go with smaller houses that offer better contracts.
It’s not stopping B&N from stocking books.
What is hurting B&N is a refusal to move into the 21st century publishing model until it may be too late.
I like physical books, but I like ebooks, too. Ebooks have only penetrated about 20% of the market. Their sales are flattening. Will B&N stop bitching about Amazon and learn to compete?
Time will tell.
Lest we forget, B&N destroyed the nation’s independent booksellers, hand in hand with Borders (which took over and ruined Walden Books before ultimately going bankrupt). It’s not like this has never happened before.
Books will survive. B&N may not.
Meryl Yourish on February 5, 2013 at 10:18 PM
Value of domain books.com overrated?
I get emails from B&N all the time. But I figure, with amazon.com selling so much more stuff, with free shipping, why would I ever go there?
Paul-Cincy on February 5, 2013 at 10:25 PM
i used to go to barnes and noble a lot but they had less and less of what i wanted
mangaand it’s so much easier to just order books from amazon. you can find pretty much anything you’re looking for on amazon XDSachiko on February 5, 2013 at 10:39 PM
i forgot to say: i do still like print books over ebooks <333 holding books in your hand, turning real pages, and collecting them on a shelf is so fun =)
Sachiko on February 5, 2013 at 10:43 PM
You should be having a nightmare where you go back to read 1984 and find that O’Brien is the hero. After all, it’s not like it hasn’t already been modified remotely.
cthulhu on February 5, 2013 at 10:47 PM
Dear God I hope it doesn’t come to that point. I would not be willing to give up all my books for digital copies (especially considering that some of them have significant value, either monetarily or in personal worth.
Now, with recordings… that will be a big problem. Already the CD has been phased out in favor of “digital downloads.”
Myron Falwell on February 5, 2013 at 11:15 PM
I don’t buy much music anymore, but I still like to get CDs when I do. They’re generally cheaper than MP3s and it’s kind of nice to hold the jewel case. Then I rip the CD onto my laptop and eventually my MP3 player.
But when I buy books, I’m selecting Kindle versions now – when I see a promotion to get them free or super cheap.
I’m kind of inconsistent that way.
22044 on February 5, 2013 at 11:22 PM
A friend of mind and his wife had to shut their local book store down a few years ago. Used book stores have also had a tough time in this economy. B&N is one of the chains that have chased away local book stores, and the locals are an irreplaceable part of our culture. Last year another big chain closed its doors. They are reaping what they sowed.
There is nothing like the serendipity of going into a book store and finding something that you weren’t looking for.
This reminds me of the old card catalog. Computers are great for quickly being able to search for all books on a topic in the county, but I miss flipping through the cards and discovering an intriguing book that I’d never heard of.
INC on February 5, 2013 at 11:32 PM
I have a Kindle Fire HD, but if/when Amazon finally offers the Instant Video app for Android, their tablets will officially become obsolete(which is likely why they’re holding out). The Nooks have had good specs for their price range, but the lack of content and instability of the parent company have always been issues.
As for eBooks vs. hard copies, give me the digital version any day of the week. I’ve been reading like crazy since I got my first Kindle a little less than a year ago. Before that, it took an act of God to get me to read an entire book.
Doughboy on February 5, 2013 at 11:46 PM
It’ only a mater of time. Amazon isn’t making anything off the hardware. The nook is unfortunately already obsolete and things are going to get any better.
jhffmn on February 5, 2013 at 11:55 PM
I think that some of this angst is overblown. No business lasts forever. I still like going to B&N, the kids love going there, but at this point, we’re a LONG way from one, so it’s not something that we do everyday.
I also used to work at B&N, and saw a lot of the reasons that it has held on longer than Borders. First of all, their staff was head and shoulders above Borders. Secondly, even a decade ago, they were shifting their stores to reflect changing market. Everybody talks about the Nook, which they are heavily promoting, but a B&N today is markedly different in 2000. They have devoted a lot more of their store to “educational toys” and teaching materials than when I ever worked there.
Furthermore, many of the store closings have been strategic. In Chicago, for example, they used to have two stores in almost the same part of the city that were less than 2 miles apart. When the owner of the property of the smaller store wanted to jack up rent, B&N decided to end its lease there. For a book lover, it’s sad, because that area used to have three humongous bookstores all within a short walk of each other (Super Crown, Borders, & B&N) but that’s life. (Besides, as I got out of high school, the fact that there was no parking within a mile of any of them plays a factor!)
Also, B&N loves to sell books. I have never had a cashier question my selections, and have gotten into some nice conversations with a good number of them. As for conservative books being in short supply, that’s more a function of the buyers in NYC trying to “anticipate” what is going to be new and hot. If you order 200 of Sarah Palin’s book and they sell out on the same day, and you order 200 of Hilary Clinton’s book, and you sell 3 in a week, you’re left with the store looking skewed toward the liberals. Back in the days when Oprah was recommending books all the time, those were the books that we were in constant short supply of, because it’s not like she gave bookstores a ‘heads up’ on materials (outside of the book clubs, which had their own publishing runs) that she was going to promote. (The stores do have some control over ordering, but a *LOT* of what is being promoted, etc. is dependent on the wishes of corporate – in NYC.)
Katja on February 6, 2013 at 12:04 AM
Pffft. They aren’t cheating on sales taxes, they’re actually following the law. BN is free to do the same thing if they wish, but apparently they believe it’s in their best interest to have physical locations in each state.
xblade on February 6, 2013 at 12:43 AM
Kind of hard to run a chain of brick and mortar stores without physical locations.
Technically you are right, Amazon isn’t cheating, but, at least in my state, their customers are.
I hope Barnes and Nobles will actually manage to hold on-those who see this as some kind of Karma for their running small indie stores out of business should realize that if Barnes and Nobles goes, the small indie stores aren’t going to be able to compete either. I’d prefer the physical world of shopping go back to 30 years ago, but unfortunately that ain’t happening, for a variety of reasons.
Personally I like Brick and Mortar commerce, and I don’t buy the argument that physical books vs. digital is like horseshoes vs. tires-for one thing, once the written word is all digital it is a lot easier to control. IIRC, there were no physical books in Orwell’s 1984, either.
Well. with Amazon you can have some aimless 20-something online clerk look down her nose at your purchases. You just don’t see it. At least at Barnes and Nobles you can give her a dirty look back…or else, ask her out for a date.
Dreadnought on February 6, 2013 at 1:34 AM
+1. I’m in Upstate NY, and I have never had a clerk give me a hard time, and I often see Coulter/Palin/O”Reilly/Beck book covers almost hitting me in the face as soon as I walk in the door.
Dreadnought on February 6, 2013 at 1:39 AM
The store near me is gone. I went to the mall last weekend, the place was just gone.
crosspatch on February 6, 2013 at 3:13 AM
If bookstores don’t serve readers, we are we surprised when they fail. More toys and nonsense for sale. Pigs at the trough, starting with the elite lefties in book publishing dictating terms, books, choices, availability of titles. It’s a business not a public service.
vityas on February 6, 2013 at 5:20 AM
Oh, honey, books aren’t going away, just book stores. You will still be able to order hardcopy books on Amazon but it is just too expensive to keep a physical store open.
Odysseus on February 6, 2013 at 7:14 AM
I occasionally like to go to BN and physically browse the books. I definitely like it with magazines. However every time I find a book I like I flip it over and it’s full MSRP. Are you kidding me? Full MSRP today? Anyway, that’s why I buy 99.9% of my books from Amazon. It’s super fast, super easy, prime gets me my books in 2 days and everything I buy is discounted.
Sorry BN, but I don’t like your store enough to pay full MSRP on books.
Free Indeed on February 6, 2013 at 8:18 AM
Which Nook? My Nook tablet has three different readers on it so I’m not seeing the advantage to the open tablet you mention.
Dr. Frank Enstine on February 6, 2013 at 8:21 AM
I don’t understand the Instant Video app thing. Why would the Kindle become obsolete? I watch NetFlix all the time on my Nook tablet and I don’t see it being obsoleted because of it.
Dr. Frank Enstine on February 6, 2013 at 8:24 AM
Because there are already Android apps for Amazon MP3 and Amazon Kindle. If they release one for Instant Video, then you’ll have the ability to watch movies and TV shows, listen to music, and read eBooks purchased from Amazon on any Android device(you already can do all of this on iPads and iPhones, BTW). At that point, why would anyone bother buying a Kindle Fire with it’s watered down version of Android and inability to access the hundreds of thousands of apps on Google Play(even sideloading only works for certain apps)?
Doughboy on February 6, 2013 at 9:01 AM
I love books and bought and bought and bought them for years..until I literally ran out of space to store them. I was one of the “You can’t beat having a physical book in your hands” folks. Then I got my first Kindle when they first came out and boxed up about 80% of my books and donated them to the library. I’m on my third Kindle now (Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ 4G LTE), and totally love everything about it. I can go anywhere with a library of books in my hands, plug the Kindle into the large screen TV to watch movies, listen to music, read Hotair, download free books from the Gutenberg Project, etc. My vocabulary has improved using the instant on-line dictionary. Amazon has got this thing down and much like Blockbuster was late to the game when Netflix first came along, B&N pretty much missed the boat when Amazon exploded onto the scene with e-readers and digital books.
Trafalgar on February 6, 2013 at 9:03 AM
As a lifelong technician this is one of my biggest fears in the near-unconsidered shift to digital media. The other being that there is a something to a physical book that digital misses, scent included.
If we put everything digital including history, classic lit. (which we already disregard) and technical knowledge, most of which is Internet-accessible, we are at a fearful risk of being ‘reset’. Literally.
MelonCollie on February 6, 2013 at 11:59 AM