# Barnes & Noble changes and the future of bookstores **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [July 29, 2023, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789 "2023-07-29T12:40:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2023, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/81 "2023-08-01T23:33:59Z")
There’s a difference between the state of Barnes and Noble and the state of printed books. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/82 "2023-08-02T00:15:51Z")
It’s not that they wouldn’t show up if you knew exactly which book to search for. It’s that one would never think of searching for such a book unless one had already seen or heard of it. What I used to love about bookstores was finding a great book I had never heard of, never even imagined could exist. That happened a lot, and you can’t do that on Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/83 "2023-08-02T00:26:39Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Why wouldn’t they? That’s a good question for Amazon. I do searches all the time for various topics that interest me. At Barnes and Noble, I saw dozens, if not hundreds, of books on those subjects that I had no idea existed. ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/84 "2023-08-02T00:29:20Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > It’s not that they wouldn’t show up if you knew exactly which book to search for. It’s that one would never think of searching for such a book unless one had already seen or heard of it. > > What I used to love about bookstores was finding a great book I had never heard of, never even imagined could exist. That happened a lot, and you can’t do that on Amazon. Yes, that’s what I mean. You just said it better. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/85 "2023-08-02T00:32:40Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Then why are they nearly out of business? [Are they?](https://www.npr.org/2023/03/07/1161295820/how-barnes-noble-turned-a-page-expanding-for-the-first-time-in-years#:~:text=After%20years%20on%20the%20brink%20of%20extinction%2C%20the%20book%20chain,taking%20over%20former%20Amazon%20bookshops.) > After years on the brink of extinction, the book chain is planning to open some 30 new stores this year. Many are returning the retailer to areas it previously abandoned. In a few, Barnes & Noble is even taking over former Amazon bookshops. > > The retailer hopes this will turn a new leaf. Barnes & Noble sales have been rising, and last year grew more than 4%, according to Shannon DeVito, director of books. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/86 "2023-08-02T00:34:55Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > My buddy does like ebooks, but he has one of those fold out phones, with over twice the surface area. Not everyone can afford one of those. But even he wont read magazines or graphic novels on it. > > But tell me, are you a reader? Do you read a lot? I read many, many books. About 400 printed pages equivalent per week on average. Mostly dense semi-academic prose. On my tablet which has a roughly 8x10" screen. I 100% agree with you that trying to read a book on a phone is as silly as trying to take a bath in a soup bowl. I could see using a phone for “reading” (AKA listening to) an audiobook. But reading for real, with eyes looking at words and letters, no way. At the ripe old age of almost 65 I find paper books & magazines very hard to read. The paper is too glossy or flat, the font is distracting, the print is too small, my lighting is not ideal, etc. My glowing zoomable screen solves the majority of those issues. I can read effortlessly for hours on a screen and for minutes with dead trees. YMMV of course. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/87 "2023-08-02T01:10:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > A phone (or tablet) should be _easier_ for older people to read on because of adjustable fonts. It is to laugh. Then the text covers on;y part of a page, making reading slow and difficult. > [@hajario](#): > > Then why are they nearly out of business? Who says they are? In fact they have opened 30 new stores. [How Barnes & Noble turned a page, expanding for the first time in years : NPR](https://www.npr.org/2023/03/07/1161295820/how-barnes-noble-turned-a-page-expanding-for-the-first-time-in-years#:~:text=After%20years%20on%20the%20brink%20of%20extinction%2C%20the%20book%20chain,taking%20over%20former%20Amazon%20bookshops). > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Why wouldn’t they? Why would they? Amazon recommends based upon your buying history, and since they suggest many books I already own, it is hard to use. > [@suranyi](#): > > It’s that one would never think of searching for such a book unless one had already seen or heard of it. Right. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/88 "2023-08-02T01:45:34Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > YMMV of course. Mine certainly does. Although I spend hours a day reading off computer screens, the Dope especially included, for relaxation I read only print books. One in the morning while I soak my aching body in a warm tub, one in the evening on the comfy chair, and one in bed before turning out the light. Admittedly I am an outlier, someone obsessed with old print books. I almost never buy any new books at all, but go to the library and haunt book sales, in addition to adding to my collections. I’m not going to help B&N come back. I sure hope they’re successful, though. I stopped even going there to browse their used book section when they became saturated with non-book products. Maybe they can tempt me back with more books. Try, B&N, try. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/89 "2023-08-02T01:52:05Z")
I 100% agree -as I get older, I find paper more difficult to read . I can’t adjust the size, I can’t find a bright enough light , magazines are too glossy. Not to mention that I read a lot an need a minimum of three books for a weeklong vacation. Much easier to do with an e-reader. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/90 "2023-08-02T04:01:02Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I 100% agree with you that trying to read a book on a phone is as silly as trying to take a bath in a soup bowl. My first ebook reader was a Handspring Visor (a forked competitor of Palm) bought around 1999 or 2000. 2.5 inch by 2.5 inch screen, 160x160 pixels. My next several readers were also Handspring Visors–once the product failed you could buy batches of broken ones on Ebay cheap, broken in different ways so you could build some working units by swapping parts. (These were old-fashioned screw-based devices, no hair-dryers and suction cups required for disassembly.) I read hundreds of books off of those over the years before getting my first e-ink based reader in 2009. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/91 "2023-08-02T07:01:15Z")
I think the problem with e-books is similar to what happened with music–when we went from vinyl to cassettes, some records were lost; then cassettes to CDs, etc . the library in Ebooks is small compared to what is available at libraries and bookstores (which is Amazon’s supply chain). And books don’t run out of power while reading a large book. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/92 "2023-08-02T11:40:23Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > > > A phone (or tablet) should be _easier_ for older people to read on because of adjustable fonts. > > It is to laugh. Then the text covers on;y part of a page, making reading slow and difficult. It sounds like you’ve never actually read a book on a tablet with a full-featured modern e-reader. As you zoom, the text dynamically reflows to fill the screen, less margins. It’s a lot like reading the Dope in a browser on a PC. Zoom and everything just gets bigger and reflows. It is _not_ like looking at a pdf on a PC where at higher zooms you have to scroll around to show different portions of the fixed page within the screen’s too-small window. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/93 "2023-08-02T13:51:53Z")
I have read small text on shitty screens and my opinion is that resolution does bring something to the reading experience, by which I mean let’s say 600 dpi as a bare minimum baseline. 2400 dpi would be really sweet. Certain typefaces (and anti-aliasing, and what not) can mitigate low resolution, but ideally you do not want to see jagged lines and curves like on a 300-dpi laser printout. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > It sounds like you’ve never actually read a book on a tablet with a full-featured modern e-reader. As you zoom, the text dynamically reflows to fill the screen, less margins. It’s a lot like reading the Dope in a browser on a PC. Zoom and everything just gets bigger and reflows. > > It is _not_ like looking at a pdf on a PC where at higher zooms you have to scroll around to show different portions of the fixed page within the screen’s too-small window. In graphic design, the font size (and line spacing, tracking, etc.) is not an arbitrary parameter; it is carefully selected based on the typeface, page layout, and so on 🙂 11 pt body, 50–60 characters per line may be a good general-purpose starting point for optimal legibility. Now a _good_ e-reader would automagically take all these sorts of things into account when reflowing the text after zooming/font changes… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/94 "2023-08-02T17:40:54Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > It’s not that they wouldn’t show up if you knew exactly which book to search for. It’s that one would never think of searching for such a book unless one had already seen or heard of it. > > What I used to love about bookstores was finding a great book I had never heard of, never even imagined could exist. That happened a lot, and you can’t do that on Amazon. Another virtual upvote for this. When I still went to used book stores (my backlog now is more than I can expect to read for the rest of my life) the thrill was exactly that. When you can get anything you want to get nothing. I have a few holes in my sf magazine collection, and I’m sure I can find them on line. But it is so much more fun to find one in a store through serendipity. And that is when my want list is well defined, books provide more buying options. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/95 "2023-08-02T17:52:03Z")
I really enjoy used bookstores - but IMHO the problem is that there are dozens of copy of popular / trendy crap, and few nuggets of gold. And, sadly, plenty of mistreated copies that all but fall apart while reading - not just due to said mistreatment, but because they were printed on paper that quickly yellowed, became brittle, and the glue was never meant to last (most paperbacks). I have lots and lots of problems with the pricing and lack of shareability on ebooks, but I have paper books that I’ve replaced 2-3 times due to disintegration of old favorites, or worse, been unable to replace at all. Which hurts in different ways. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2023, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789/96 "2023-08-02T18:04:57Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It sounds like you’ve never actually read a book on a tablet with a full-featured modern e-reader. His mentions _Phones (or a tablet)_, and yes, I have tried a tablet, and it is not so bad. But my phone is 2.5 inches wide. > [@DPRK](#): > > Now a _good_ e-reader would automagically take all these sorts of things into account when reflowing the text after zooming/font changes… Yeah, I tried a Nook once, it was pretty good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/barnes-noble-changes-and-the-future-of-bookstores/987789.md?page=4)