# Why did you stop going to Barnes and Nobles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2010, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676 "2010-08-18T22:29:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676/141 "2010-08-25T02:27:32Z")
Odd. The B&N in my town is always busy, and yes, I still go there regularly. They also have customer-use computer terminals to look up books (Someone on the first page said they don’t). If we had a Half-Price Books or a Bookman’s - no, I don’t think I’d be a B&N regular. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676/142 "2010-08-25T02:30:19Z")
> [@Ignatz](#): > > They are pushing their Nookie, with a manned display right inside the entrance. If I’d known I could get Nookie at B&N I’d be there every day! 😃😉 ---
**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 25, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676/143 "2010-08-25T02:49:02Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I hadn’t heard that B&N was closing! It’s not! Read the thread! ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676/144 "2010-08-25T03:07:37Z")
I go to the local B&N regularly. It’s not exactly my preference, but the only other bookstore in town isn’t open when I can go to a bookstore–though I do try to give them my business when I can. B&N is effectively all there is. And they do stock the weird little sewing magazines I sometimes want to buy. In the last few weeks they’ve pushed the books out to the edges of the store and put a whole lot of toys and games in the middle, especially expensive ‘educational’ toys and Star Wars Legos. There’s also a giant new ‘education’ area of shelving–Rosetta Stone software must be paying a good bit for the shelf space, since that’s all there is on two whole sections of shelving. I can’t quite see why they need that many displays of workbooks… ---
**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676/145 "2010-08-31T21:56:38Z")
I see today that Borders is now going to offer a paid discount program. It is described in this article: [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38938603/ns/business-retail/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38938603/ns/business-retail/) Perhaps Borders must feel that Barnes & Noble’s program has some merit? ---
**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 31, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676/146 "2010-08-31T22:34:04Z")
The real news is essentially an admission of death. > **[Borders to Sell Build-A-Bear as E-Book Purchases Rise](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-08-30/borders-to-sell-build-a-bear-items-as-readers-switch-to-e-books)** > > Borders Group Inc., the second-largest U.S. bookstore chain, will start selling items from Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc., relying less on books for sales as more people use electronic reading devices. > [@](#): > > BuzzPrint Borders Group Inc., the second- largest U.S. bookstore chain, will start selling items from Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc., relying less on books for sales as more people use electronic reading devices. > > Most of Borders’ more than 500 stores will create sections next month dedicated to Build-a-Bear, the maker of kits kids can use to craft stuffed animals, Chief Executive Officer Michael Edwards said in an interview. The new areas also will feature books and DVDs tied to the brand. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676/147 "2010-08-31T22:38:53Z")
Great. If Borders goes down, then two of the remaining Boston bookstores and the one across the river in Cabridgeside Galleria will go under, leaving the B&N at the Pru, the Trident on Newbury Street, and a couple of used book stores. In _Boston_\* - Plus the college bookstores, which I don’t count. The mind boggles at the thought of those three Borders Books selling Build-A-Bear products. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676/148 "2010-08-31T22:59:30Z")
I only go to Borders once a month, but I will truly miss that trip if they go out of business. I was there this past Saturday morning and they were fairly busy. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676/149 "2010-08-31T23:17:45Z")
The New York Times is reporting that B&N is closing its store at 66th and Broadway in Manhattan, across from Lincoln Center. The article says of the people lamenting the impending closure of the store, “But many of those same people conceded that they have not bought as many books there as they did in the past. Some said they were more likely to browse the shelves, then head home and make purchases online. Others said they prized the store most for its sunny cafe or its magazines and other nonbook items.” ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676/150 "2010-08-31T23:42:52Z")
> [@hazel-rah](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Why did you stop going to Barnes and Nobles? > > After six years, I knew it was time to quit working at B&N when I had an experience that perfectly encapsulated the bookstore experience of America in the year 2010. > > A customer come to the store brandishing her iPhone at me. She demanded that I help her locate titles based on half-remembered plot summaries and descriptions such as “it has a blue cover and I saw it on a table here a few months ago.” Each time I found what she was looking for, she would add the item to her Amazon shopping cart on her iPhone, right in front of me. > > When I told her that I wasn’t going to be able to provide any further assistance, _she_ had the nerve to get mad at _me_. _No man can be expected to put up with such obliviousness, such entitlement_, I thought to myself. _Go fuck yourself, lady. Get the hell out of my store._ > > I called a manager and let him deal with her. He humored her, as managers must do if they want to stay managers, and afterwards I saw him in the breakroom, visibly aged from the encounter, and our eyes met and he took a breath, as if he were about to tell me something. Then he exhaled heavily, the air becoming a long sigh. I turned away. There was nothing to say. > > My last day is next Saturday. I think I was a pretty decent bookseller and I liked my job but six years is surely more than I could do. I left after three, despite the excellent health insurance, [mostly] entertaining co-workers and access to just about anything I wanted to read. Oh, and I think I met your lady’s cousin. She didn’t eShop on her iPhone, but she did wave _A Fine Balance_ in my face, ask me if it was any good and the very next second, before I could open my mouth, roll her eyes at her son and say “she hasn’t read it. Why am I even asking a salesperson?” Since I left, I rarely shop at B&N anymore. I use the library, instead. But when I do go, I’m really, _really_ nice. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676/151 "2010-08-31T23:44:27Z")
Location - there’s two closer Borders, and used to be a Books-A-Million within a few blocks of my house. I’m buying fewer books as well; typically I check online reviews rather than just buying any book that looks good. Now that I have an iPhone, I can be in a bookstore reading readers’ reviews off their own website or another seller’s website. Among other reasons, I need to limit the space in my house that my books use up. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676/152 "2010-08-31T23:53:56Z")
I haven’t stopped going to B&N and I don’t see myself stopping as long as they maintain their college-bookstore franchises (and as long as my brother keeps giving me gift cards for Christmas and my birthday). The nearest B&N to me is the University of Pennsylvania bookstore (they also run the Drexel U store, a few blocks further off). What with the textbooks, the pallets of notebooks and bins of other school supplies that appear and are emptied each new semester, the textbooks, the dorm room furnishings, the textbooks, the graduation gowns in the spring, the textbooks, the Penn-branded sportswear and gifts and souvenirs (and did I mention they stock the textbooks?), I don’t see this store going out of business any time soon. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676/153 "2010-09-01T04:13:24Z")
^ I’ve seen campus bookstores change sponsorships. It’s not like they need to be sponsored by B&N to get textbooks, and especially not everything else. In fact, the only sponsored textbook store I’ve ever seen actually had the textbooks separate from the sponsored stuff. Plus, how many people buy their textbooks at the actual school bookstore? Sure, you may have to with scholarships and grants, but otherwise, why? Very rarely is even the next edition going to be significantly different (as said editions are usually just money grabs), so you can buy used. And if you absolutely need a new textbook, you know about it enough ahead of time that you can get it on Amazon, where it will most likely be discounted. The only text books you have to buy from the store are school-made books, and why would those have to go through B&N? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-you-stop-going-to-barnes-and-nobles/550676.md?page=7)