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Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

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Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#61

Post by fencepost »

clarityPhone wrote: post #43
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's confusing? Shipping a book from a warehouse is cheaper and maintaining a website is cheaper than setting up and selling from a physical store. If I order a book online, I don't want to subsidize the walk in customers.

I can’t think of any other retailer that does this. Best Buy, Walmart, Famous Footwear, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc. all honor the same prices in person as they do online.

My experience with the office supply places and Target is that they'll happily match their online price, but the in store price is generally higher on items that aren't specifically on sale - sometimes dramatically so. Not sure about Best Buy, but they'll match a bunch of other online retailers so I'm more likely doing that anyway.

I'm surprised by the experience related here - I'd absolutely expect the store to price match online when asked about it even though I believe they were separate divisions.

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#62

Post by Turing_Machine »

wnissen wrote: post #25

To save anyone the trouble, the book value (no pun intended) is only $474 million. You'd think the inventory alone would would be work more than the average $675K per store that you get if you assume their other assets (minus debt) are worth nothing.

Most of the books in a major bookstore like B&N are returnable. They're not actually owned by the bookstore (at least not permanently, and not outright). If the book doesn't sell within a specified period of time, the publisher will take it back.

Hardcovers are generally returned intact. Paperbacks and magazines often just require that the retailer tear off the cover and return that, while destroying (at least in theory) the rest of the book. That's why you sometimes see that warning in the front of paperback books and magazines about not buying it if its cover has been removed... unscrupulous retailers will sometimes strip the cover, return it for credit, then sell the stripped book on the black market.

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#63

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

legitster wrote: post #15

So, before we doom and gloom about B&N, it's important to remember that independent bookstores are doing great! https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/why-independent-bookstores-haved-... So why is Barnes and Nobles struggling? A couple of important points: Their inventory and footprint IS HUGE. Large inventory with low turnover is a margin-killer in retail. And I doubt they make much money off the books in their shelves - real…

> It's important to remember that independent bookstores are doing great!

The independent stores that you think are doing great are not what many fans of independent bookshops are thinking of by the words “independent bookstores”.

I fondly look back on certain 1990s independent bookshops that had enormous stock, and books were all they sold. But these days, many independent bookshops have trimmed their book inventories to a bare minimum of “new and select books” like you speak of. Small bookshops have felt the same pressures as the large chains, and in the place of actual books come things like vinyl records, Kikkerland products, and fancy teas. That might help them stay afloat financially, but for actual book lovers, it feels like the soul has been ripped out of the shop, like the proprietors are not bibliophiles themselves.

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#65

Post by fencepost »

dymk wrote: post #42
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's confusing? Shipping a book from a warehouse is cheaper and maintaining a website is cheaper than setting up and selling from a physical store. If I order a book online, I don't want to subsidize the walk in customers.

And still, nearly all retailers have adopted a price-matching policy that matches not just their own website, but competitors as well. There's really not a good reason for their in-store price to be higher than their online price in 2019.

There's really not a good reason for their in-store price to be higher than their online price in 2019.

Think of the price match as a coupon that you have/know about but others don't. The store is content to sell you the item at a discount (they likely still make money and they keep you coming to them) but they'd still prefer to sell to you at the higher price.

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#67

Post by barking »

tnorthcutt wrote: post #33

Last year I wanted to buy Thinking in Bets (great book, btw). I was feeling impatient, so I looked it up on Barnes and Noble's website, and saw that a store where I was had it in stock. I went in to purchase it, and the price in store was a couple bucks higher than the listed price online. I asked the clerk about it, and he kind of shrugged and said he couldn't do anything about it. I walked out without the book and…

Going off topic. I looked up that book on Amazon and one critical review said it was the same thing repeated over and over and he could sum up the book's advice in one paragraph:

Make a decision as if you are betting all of your money on your choice. Don't take shortcuts based on your inborn biases and seek contrarian opinions and experienced counsel. Don't blame bad luck on bad outcomes; figure out how you could have made a better informed decision. Oh, and surprise, surprise, join groups with participants who have had similar experiences and expertise who can critique your choices and illuminate your blindspots. There you go.

Was he wrong?

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#68

Post by darkpuma »

legitster wrote: post #15

So, before we doom and gloom about B&N, it's important to remember that independent bookstores are doing great! https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/why-independent-bookstores-haved-... So why is Barnes and Nobles struggling? A couple of important points: Their inventory and footprint IS HUGE. Large inventory with low turnover is a margin-killer in retail. And I doubt they make much money off the books in their shelves - real…

Something I've noticed is that small bookstores, particularly used bookstores, cram in way more books per square foot of floor space. Books from floor to ceiling, often with so many shelves crammed into the building that you wonder if the average-sized American can actually squeeze into the store. I wager I've seen some used bookstores smaller than my college dorm room with more books than a B&N.

It's a cozier atmosphere too, more conducive to hanging out for a while digging around for things that look interesting. An all around more enjoyable experience than B&N or Borders ever were.

Re: Barnes & Noble Set To Be Sold To Elliott Management For About $683M

#70

Post by rhizome »

baron816 wrote: post #52
legitster wrote: post #15

So, before we doom and gloom about B&N, it's important to remember that independent bookstores are doing great! https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/why-independent-bookstores-haved-... So why is Barnes and Nobles struggling? A couple of important points: Their inventory and footprint IS HUGE. Large inventory with low turnover is a margin-killer in retail. And I doubt they make much money off the books in their shelves - real…

>before we doom and gloom about B&N, it's important to remember that independent bookstores are doing great It’s funny watching a movie like You’ve Got Mail today when the trend was reversed. That movie hasn’t aged well for many reasons now that I think about it.

If the bookstore setting is played out, perhaps something fresher would be a perfume store? Or a music store? Or a leather goods retailer? These all still exist! :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikl%C3%B3s_L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3#P...

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