Not that I’m about comparing Len Riggio to Hugh Hefner, but you are dead-on about this. The writer of that article is jumping to a conclusion based on limited knowledge. B&N is in much better shape than Borders or Books A Million right now. B&N isn’t really looking for a buyer like the article implies, Riggio is the intended buyer. With Riggio taking over without having to answer to shareholders, I believe you’ll see more creative & interesting things coming down the pipe for Barnes & Noble and bookstores in general.
Will any of it work? Who knows? But this isn’t anything like a bell tolling for Barnes & Noble…and (at least for now) they are not closing.
To answer the OP, I like B&N, so I didn’t stop going. I’m not a huge book buyer, but I like the store’s layout (the local Border’s are just depressing) and I often find myself losing track of time there in a way that doesn’t happen at the indy stores in my area (Except for one great store which is a bit out of the way.) For what it’s worth, I’m also a fan of the nook.
The B&N is a bit out of the way, hard to get to with all the traffic, but I do spend quite a bit there, and at Borders, before and after Christmas. (I buy presents for others before Christmas, and presents for myself after :)). Gift books, cookbooks, fancy journals, hobby books are easy to browse for when Christmas shopping. I love the place, though yeah, it sucks not having an in-store computer to search.
I do buy a lot of books cheaply online, most of them older/out of print (like celebrity cookbooks from years ago, or older children’s books, and obscurities written by my favorite authors). Can’t get that kind of stuff at a big bookstore… As for bestsellers and such, our library system can get just about anything from other libraries in the county, and even out of state (though you have to go down to the library, fill out a form, and sometimes pay a small fee). And of course there are still a few local used-bookstores around here that I pop into on occasion.
But it would be a real shame if B&N here closed. I still miss Waldenbooks, they had a nice magazine selection. But so it goes. No money, no money.
I think that Barnes & Noble runs hundreds of college bookstores, so that business may cushion them from complete failure.
And I remember visiting New York City in the mid-1980s and going to the enormous flagship store in lower Manhattan. This was in the days when most of the chain bookstores were Waldenbooks or B Dalton stores in malls, and the flagship store was one of the biggest in America. And then in the early 1990s, I used to go to their store in Yonkers. At first it was tiny and then later it was expanded tremendously.
Maybe, but it’s not a given.
It’s a lot easier to kill an existing business that has been around for many years (and was started when it may have been easier to start such things) than to open a new one in current conditions. Nevertheless, they did open a new bookstore a few years ago in Salem, after all the others had closed. How they managed it, I have no idea. And they’ve opened a couple of (non-charity) used book stores in Boston and Cambridge recently, when the general trend has been that even second-hand bookshops have been closing (One just closed a few months ago in another north-of-Boston town). How they bucked the trend, I don’t know. But I see more failures than successes.
B&N is the closest bookstore, so I will always go there. I may not buy many books there, but I always find a magazine or three to purchase. I’d hate to have to miss anything new just because the store went away. Little chance of that happening, of course. They’ll just get bought out and reorganized.
I agree that Borders is better, but I quite like Barnes and Noble. Sure, it’s a big soulless chain - but bookstores are one of those niches that big, soulless chains can actually provide a very valuable service in. I love a good independent bookstore, but if I want to go someplace that just has a very large selection, Barnes and Noble and Borders are where it’s at. (Unless you’re lucky enough to be in NYC, in which case I can’t imagine shopping anywhere that isn’t The Strand).
Besides - Barnes and Noble is, above all else, a bookstore. They bring books to the people, often quite cheaply. If you’re going to be in retail, this is close as you get to sainthood. I don’t think there’s any way I could be convinced to speak seriously ill of B and N.
I hope you’re right - I have a Barnes and Noble within walking distance of my apartment, but going to Borders requires a Metro ride. Hang in there, corporate behemoth!
Isn’t there one in Union Square? I walked into that place once & had difficulty weaving through what seemed like hundreds of patrons on a Wednesday evening.
I miss New York.
Yes, pretty sad. I loved browsing there, but stopped buying for one simple (and self-defeating, but hard-headed) reason: their stupid “frequent buyers’ card”. Which they charged - what- $30 bucks a year for?
If I’m a frequent enough buyer, (and I was) I should NOT have to pay $30 to receive a 10% discount on future purchases. Once I realized this, and let it lapse, every time I went to the register, I’d get the hard sell to renew my club member card. It got so irritating, I stopped shopping there altogether.
I use the library now. If I see a book on BookTv that interests me they will get it. They will get nearly any book i want. I read Grants memoirs last year . I would have great trouble finding it in a book store.
Besides. I like books and tend to keep them. I have too many now.
I have still not stopped shopping at Barnes & Noble, but I always preferred Borders.
And the linked article and other news reports I find don’t say that Barnes & Noble is “closing down.” They say that the company is seeking a buyer. Does anyone have any definitive statement that the retail stores are actually closing their doors?
B&N is pretty much the only store around in which it’s hard to find a parking spot due to them always being packed.
Really, I don’t get how they could be hurting, unless all those bodies in the store are just loitering.
I miss all the independent shops we used to have in the area. It was nice to browse for books and not have 3 other people vying for the same section of shelf.
I think all these are true, but I think that one of the subtle reasons that makes me prefer Borders is its decor … somehow the color combinations, with the light-colored wood, feels a lot more comfortable than B&N’s dark wood … somehow B&N feels more corporate and Wall Street-ish.
I always wondered why B&N didn’t got for a late night thing. They should stay open till 3 or 4 in the morning… I bet a lot of people would love to hang out their at night. Their was a indy bookstore in Chicago that use to do that… can’t remember the name…
Come on down the Green line to the Booksmith in Brookline (Beacon St. at Coolidge Corner) – they’re always busy, and their used section downstairs is fantastic.
Because there are so few locations in the area where I live. The Cerritos B & N closed down a couple years ago, to make room for a much larger Borders store. The closest B&N to me is in Long Beach, and really out of my way. I would much rather go to the Borders that’s along the bus route I normally take to get home from work.
Poor customer service, at least at the Long Beach store I last went to a couple of years ago. I had trouble finding people to help me when I looked for someone at the customer service desk, but when I found a book to sit down and read for a bit, there was always someone to ask me if I had “found what I was looking for.” :rolleyes:
