161–170 of 197 posts
Well Elliott is a vulture fund so we all know where this is going
They already own Waterstones in the UK which they seem to be treating ok so far: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48560539
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…
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Not sure if you are aware, but matching competitor prices is actually anti-consumer. It's counterintuitive but it means that your competitors won't lower the price on the first place. Kinda like implicit price fixing.
It's actually not - if a competitor thinks it can sell more widgets at a lower price and make it up in the increase volume, they will lower the price. If that's the price which maximizes revenue for them, they'll leave it. It's straight forward supply and demand.
This is of course a very stylized/idealized argument, but I think it's a good point to consider.
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 hav…
Thank god. Their website is so bad that it’s almost like they are trying not to sells books. Last week I had a gift card for BN that I needed to use, and tried to buy an audiobook on bn.com from my iPhone. It was damn near impossible to find anything and I still don’t know how to search for an audiobook. Such a shame, as I used to love their physical stores. Hopefully these folks will do a much better job.
https://m.barnesandnoble.com/b/audiobooks/_/N-2cnc?sk_page=d... is what came up when I typed “audiobook” into the search box. There’s an entire section.
Now here’s the kicker - it’s out of stock. WTF !?!
[1] - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-alchemy-of-finance-geor...
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Actual idea: Treat your local bookstore like a library. They don't care if you read their books as long as you stay in store and are respectful. Plus they have actual up to date selection with no waiting list for new releases. And spending money at the cafe is probably higher margin for them anyway.
That used to be more of a thing in the 1990s. The big chains used to have lots of seating, even sofas, and as a fast reader who can read a typical 300 page book in a couple of hours, I used to spend most of my weekends reading books for free in big bookstores. They've wised up. There isn't a lot of seating these days.
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It actually costs them a ton of money to physically label the prices on each book. B&N adds their own sticker over the top of the MSRP when they receive the book. Changing the sticker every time the online price is changed would cost them a small fortune. If you're ever wondering why the online price differs from the in-store price by a significant amount, usually it's not because the retailer is trying to gouge you.…
He’s not complaining about the price tag not matching the online price. He’s complaining about the cashier applying the tag price and not the lower price advertised online. I also find it confusing when retailers apply different prices online and at physical stores, unless the fact that the online price is different is very clearly stated.
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> 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 inventori…
This depresses me. One of the reasons I don't like B&N is because I feel it's a store no longer dedicated to books. They have books, but it's also a gift store, a toy store, and a stationery store. From just my estimate, I feel about 40 percent of its floor-space is for non-book items. Another book chain in Canada, Indigo Books, operates similarly. I think the last bastions for book-lovers are used bookstores. Also,…
A major independent store in Denver, Tattered Cover, dropped from being spread across 2 large floors down to 1 smaller floor, and I heard the once had 3 floors of the building they’re in. They seem to have focused on keeping the best books in stock though, subjectively speaking. But a decent part of that space is also coffee shop, periodicals, etc as well. I think they also lost any space for authors to come do readings.
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https://m.barnesandnoble.com/b/audiobooks/_/N-2cnc?sk_page=d... is what came up when I typed “audiobook” into the search box. There’s an entire section.
Yes, but let’s say you’re a George Soros fan and want to buy one of his audio books. So you do a search for “Alchemy of Finance audiobook” and the result you get is this [1]. Now here’s the kicker - it’s out of stock . WTF !?! [1] - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-alchemy-of-finance-geor...
Maybe some online publishing license has to be renewed?
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I can’t fathom the decision-making that led to spending the time to go down to the store for some instant gratification and then leaving over a $2 difference.
probably spent $2 in gas too... but sometimes it's just principles.